Dataset Information

Ocean warming is the key filter for successful colonization of the migrant octocoral Melithaea erythraea (Ehrenberg, 1834) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

ABSTRACT: Climate, which sets broad limits for migrating species, is considered a key filter to species migration between contrasting marine environments. The Southeast Mediterranean Sea (SEMS) is one of the regions where ocean temperatures are rising the fastest under recent climate change. Also, it is the most vulnerable marine region to species introductions. Here, we explore the factors which enabled the colonization of the endemic Red Sea octocoral Melithaea erythraea (Ehrenberg, 1834) along the SEMS coast, using sclerite oxygen and carbon stable isotope composition (? 18OSC and ? 13CSC), morphology, and crystallography. The unique conditions presented by the SEMS include a greater temperature range (?15 °C) and ultra-oligotrophy, and these are reflected by the lower ? 13CSCvalues. This is indicative of a larger metabolic carbon intake during calcification, as well as an increase in crystal size, a decrease of octocoral wart density and thickness of the migrating octocoral sclerites compared to the Red Sea samples. This suggests increased stress conditions, affecting sclerite deposition of the SEMS migrating octocoral. The ? 18Osc range of the migrating M. erythraea indicates a preference for warm water sclerite deposition, similar to the native depositional temperature range of 21-28 °C. These findings are associated with the observed increase of minimum temperatures in winter for this region, at a rate of 0.35 ± 0.27 °C decade-1 over the last 30 years, and thus the region is becoming more hospitable to the Indo-Pacific M. erythraea. This study shows a clear case study of "tropicalization" of the Mediterranean Sea due to recent warming.

SUBMITTER: Grossowicz M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7320722 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Ocean warming is the key filter for successful colonization of the migrant octocoral <i>Melithaea erythraea</i> (Ehrenberg, 1834) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Grossowicz Michal M Bialik Or M OM Shemesh Eli E Tchernov Dan D Vonhof Hubert B HB Sisma-Ventura Guy G

PeerJ 20200624

Climate, which sets broad limits for migrating species, is considered a key filter to species migration between contrasting marine environments. The Southeast Mediterranean Sea (SEMS) is one of the regions where ocean temperatures are rising the fastest under recent climate change. Also, it is the most vulnerable marine region to species introductions. Here, we explore the factors which enabled the colonization of the endemic Red Sea octocoral <i>Melithaea erythraea</i> (Ehrenberg, 1834) along t ...[more]

PMID: 32612887

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Project description:In being at the base of the marine food web, phytoplankton is particularly important for marine ecosystem functioning (e.g., biodiversity). Strong anthropization, over-exploitation of natural resources, and climate change affect the natural amount of phytoplankton and, therefore, represent a continuous threat to the biodiversity in marine waters. In particular, a concerning risks for coastal waters is the increase in nutrient inputs of terrestrial/anthropogenic origin that can lead to undesirable modifications of phytoplankton concentration (i.e., eutrophication). Monitoring chlorophyll (Chl) concentration, which is a proxy of phytoplankton biomass, is an efficient tool for recording and understanding the response of the marine ecosystem to human pressures and thus for detecting eutrophication. Here, we compute Chl trends over the Mediterranean Sea by using satellite data, also highlighting the fact that remote sensing may represent an efficient and reliable solution to synoptically control the "good environmental status" (i.e., the Marine Directive to achieve Good Environmental Status of EU marine waters by 2020) and to assess the application of international regulations and environmental directives. Our methodology includes the use of an ad hoc regional (i.e., Mediterranean) algorithm for Chl concentration retrieval, also accounting for the difference between offshore (i.e., Case I) and coastal (i.e., Case II) waters. We apply the Mann-Kendall test and the Sens's method for trend estimation to the Chl concentration de-seasonalized monthly time series, as obtained from the X-11 technique. We also provide a preliminary analysis of some particular trends by evaluating their associated inter-annual variability. The high spatial resolution of our approach allows a clear identification of intense trends in those coastal waters that are affected by river outflows. We do not attempt to attribute the observed trends to specific anthropogenic events. However, the trends that we document are consistent with the findings of several previous studies.

Dataset Information

Ocean warming is the key filter for successful colonization of the migrant octocoral Melithaea erythraea (Ehrenberg, 1834) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Publications

Ocean warming is the key filter for successful colonization of the migrant octocoral <i>Melithaea erythraea</i> (Ehrenberg, 1834) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

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