A desert in the ocean - Depauperate fouling communities on marine litter in the hyper-oligotrophic South Pacific Subtropical Gyre.

Autor: Rech S; Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile; Millennium Nucleus of Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands (ESMOI), Coquimbo, Chile. Electronic address: sabinerech01@gmail.com., Gusmao JB; Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile; Millennium Nucleus of Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands (ESMOI), Coquimbo, Chile., Kiessling T; Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile; Kiel Science Factory, Kiel University and Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, Kiel, Germany., Hidalgo-Ruz V; Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile., Meerhoff E; Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile; Millennium Nucleus of Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands (ESMOI), Coquimbo, Chile; Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Avenida Ossandón 877, Coquimbo, Chile; Laboratorio de Ciencias del Mar (UNDECIMAR), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay., Gatta-Rosemary M; Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile; Kiel Science Factory, Kiel University and Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, Kiel, Germany., Moore C; Algalita, 148 N. Marina Drive, Long Beach, CA 90803, United States., de Vine R; Algalita, 148 N. Marina Drive, Long Beach, CA 90803, United States., Thiel M; Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile; Millennium Nucleus of Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands (ESMOI), Coquimbo, Chile; Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Avenida Ossandón 877, Coquimbo, Chile.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2021 Mar 10; Vol. 759, pp. 143545. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Nov 06.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143545
Abstrakt: The hyper-oligotrophic waters of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre (SPSG) and the productive coastal Humboldt Current System (HCS) constitute an extreme nutrient gradient in the eastern South Pacific Ocean. Rich and dense fouling communities are known from floating objects in the HCS, but they have not been studied in the SPSG and it is not known which factors are influencing their richness and abundance. Here we present the first extensive study of rafting by marine invertebrates on floating anthropogenic debris in the eastern SPSG. We compared the effect of 9 raft-related categorical predictors on epibiont richness and fouling cover. Raft complexity was the most important predictor of richness. Fouling was dominated by thin crusts and biofilms, with more advanced communities only observed on few items. Fouling cover could not be predicted by any of the categorical factors tested. However, when tested as continuous predictors, raft volume and surface area were significantly correlated with both cover and richness. The most frequently encountered epibionts were common pelagic rafters, particularly Lepas spp., Planes spp., and Jellyella spp. Low fouling cover suggests that the SPSG's hyper-oligotrophic conditions strongly limit fouling growth, while the low frequency of coastal taxa points to the HCS/SPSG nutrient gradient acting as a filter for such organisms.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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