Macrobenthic composition of the southeast continental shelf of India

Macrobenthic faunal composition was studied at six different depth ranges (30–50, 51–75, 76–100, 101–150, 151–175 and >176 m) in five transects (off Karaikkal, Parangipettai, Cuddalore‐SIPCOT, Cheyyur and Chennai) in the continental shelf of southeast coast of India. Eleven diverse taxa were found, comprising 113 species of polychaetes, 14 species of bivalves, 10 species of amphipods and ‘others’ (five tanaids, five crabs, four isopods, three echinoderms, two shrimps, two cnidarians, two fishes and one cephalochordate). Polychaetes were the dominant taxa, constituting 88.5% of the total abundance and 30.7% of the total biomass. The number of species (seven per 0.2 m² at >176 m depth range in Chennai to 46 per 0.2 m² at 30–50 m in Cheyyur), abundance (216 per 0.2 m² at >176 m in Karaikkal to 353 per 0.2 m² at 30–50 m in Cheyyur) and biomass (0.09 g per 0.2 m² at 151–175 m in Karaikkal and 4.6 g per 0.2 m² at 30–50 m in Cheyyur) of macrobenthos decreased with increase in depth. DO decreased gradually from 30 m depth; beyond 150 m, the decrease was pronounced due to the presence of the oxygen minimum zone. Using the distance based linear model (DISTLM), it was found that the environmental variables explained about 73.3% of the total variability in macrofaunal distribution. The heavy metals cobalt and mercury, as well as water pressure (proxy for depth), showed a significant relationship with macrofauna, explaining respectively 9, 7.3 and 7% of the total variability. The contribution of other variables was smaller.     

Reef fishes recruited at midwater coral nurseries consume biofouling and reduce cleaning time in Seychelles,Indian Ocean

In coral reef restoration, coral gardening involves rearing coral fragments in underwater nurseries prior to transplantation. These nurseries become fish-aggregating devices and attract biofouling. We hypothesised that: (1) the presence of corals at a nursery is critical to recruit fish assemblages and (2) the recruited fish assemblages control biofouling, reducing person-hours invested in nursery cleaning. Three midwater coral nurseries were deployed at 8?m depth for 27 months within the marine protected area of Cousin Island Special Reserve, Seychelles, Indian Ocean. Each nursery consisted of a 6?m×6?m PVC pipe frame, layered with a recycled 5.5-cm-mesh tuna net. Human cleaning effort was calculated based on daily dive logs. Nursery-associated fish assemblages and behaviour were video-recorded prior to harvesting corals after a 20-month growth period and seven months post-coral harvesting. The density (ind. m–2) of blue-yellow damselfish Pomacentrus caeruleus was 12–16 times higher when corals were present than when corals were absent at the nurseries. Fish assemblages recruited into the nurseries included three trophic levels, from herbivores to omnivores, in six families: Ephippidae, Pomacentridae, Labridae (Scarinae), Gobiidae, Siganidae and Monacanthidae. Higher abundance of large fish (total number of individuals) resulted in 2.75 times less person-hours spent in nursery cleaning. These results have important implications for cost-effective coral reef restoration.     

Life cycle and population dynamics of Idotea balthica basteri (Pallas, 1772), Isopoda Valvifera from the Bizerte lagoon (Southern Mediterranean Sea – Tunisia)

The population dynamics and life cycle of Idotea balthica basteri (Pallas, 1772) were studied at the Menzel Jemil (lagoon of Bizerte, Tunisia) based on monthly samples taken from October 2009 to September 2011. The presence of juveniles and gravid females throughout the sampling period showed that this species exhibits continuous reproduction. Sexual differentiation occurs in approximately 43–59 days. Females took 88–160 days (3–5.5 months) to reach sexual maturation, and males took 102 days (3.5 months). The fecundity and fertility values exhibited a great variation in the number of eggs and embryos or mancae inside the marsupium which was correlated with the length of the gravid females. The sex ratio underwent fluctuations throughout the sampling period but was always in favour of females. Size frequency distributions were analysed recognizing 24 cohorts during the sampling period. Six cohorts were identified in October 2009 and 18 cohorts in November 2009–September 2011. Among these latter cohorts, nine were tracked till they disappeared. The minimum average size of new cohorts ranged from 1.92 ± 0.31 to 2.97 ± 0.26 mm and the maximum values ranged from 12.83 ± 0.96 to 19.23 ± 0.56 mm. Life span was estimated at 10–14 months. I. balthica basteri, in the lagoon of Bizerte, is a semi‐annual species with iteroparous females, and a bivoltine life cycle that produces two generations per year.     

Nitrous oxide production and denitrification rates in estuarine intertidal saltmarsh and managed realignment zones

Increasing concerns over habitat loss and rising costs of sea defence maintenance due to rising sea levels, has seen increases in the practice of managed realignment and reflooding of former reclaimed areas of intertidal saltmarsh and mudflat around the world. These practices are taking place with little knowledge of their impact on soil biogeochemical processes. Rates of denitrification (using the acetylene inhibition technique) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) production were measured from a long-established saltmarsh (SM) and an adjacent, recently re-flooded managed realignment (MR) site comprising former arable land in the estuary of the River Torridge, Devon, UK. Incubations were carried out in closed chambers in which patterns of tidal flooding were simulated automatically. Measurements were made during periods of flood and non-flood over a total of four tidal inundations with estuarine water. During the latter two flooding episodes floodwater was amended with nitrate (NO₃⁻). Nitrous oxide production in the SM soil generally was lower than in the MR soil, with mean values and standard errors over the whole incubation of 0.27 ± 0.16 mg N₂O-N m⁻² h⁻¹ and 0.65 ± 0.15 mg N₂O-N m⁻² h⁻¹ respectively. Denitrification rates demonstrated a similar trend although generally were an order of magnitude higher than N₂O production, with mean rates and standard errors of 2.88 ± 1.12 mg N₂O-N m⁻² h⁻¹ in the SM soil and 3.39 ± 1.16 mg N₂O-N m⁻² h⁻¹ in the MR soil. The data suggest that both soils are net sinks for NO₃⁻ and net sources for N₂O. Both patterns of tidal inundation and floodwater chemistry affect the process rates in each soil differently. The impact of flooding with NO₃⁻ – amended water was greater on the SM soil than the MR soil, and it is likely that decomposing vegetation buried in the accreting sediments following reflooding at the MR site were supplying a source of N in the soil, and so process rates were less dependent upon external supplies. The act of managed realignment in intertidal zones could therefore result in an increase in mean production of N₂O in intertidal zones, at least in the short term.     

Guiding ecological principles for marine spatial planning

The declining health of marine ecosystems around the world is evidence that current piecemeal governance is inadequate to successfully support healthy coastal and ocean ecosystems and sustain human uses of the ocean. One proposed solution to this problem is ecosystem-based marine spatial planning (MSP), which is a process that informs the spatial distribution of activities in the ocean so that existing and emerging uses can be maintained, use conflicts reduced, and ecosystem health and services protected and sustained for future generations. Because a key goal of ecosystem-based MSP is to maintain the delivery of ecosystem services that humans want and need, it must be based on ecological principles that articulate the scientifically recognized attributes of healthy, functioning ecosystems. These principles should be incorporated into a decision-making framework with clearly defined targets for these ecological attributes. This paper identifies ecological principles for MSP based on a synthesis of previously suggested and/or operationalized principles, along with recommendations generated by a group of twenty ecologists and marine scientists with diverse backgrounds and perspectives on MSP. The proposed four main ecological principles to guide MSP—maintaining or restoring: native species diversity, habitat diversity and heterogeneity, key species, and connectivity—and two additional guidelines, the need to account for context and uncertainty, must be explicitly taken into account in the planning process. When applied in concert with social, economic, and governance principles, these ecological principles can inform the designation and siting of ocean uses and the management of activities in the ocean to maintain or restore healthy ecosystems, allow delivery of marine ecosystem services, and ensure sustainable economic and social benefits.     

Interannual variability of Kelvin wave propagation in the wave guides of the equatorial Indian Ocean,the coastal Bay of Bengal and the southeastern Arabian Sea during 1993–2006

The observed variability of the Kelvin waves and their propagation in the equatorial wave guide of the Indian Ocean and in the coastal wave guides of the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and the southeastern Arabian Sea (AS) on seasonal to interannual time scales during years 1993–2006 is examined utilizing all the available satellite and in-situ measurements. The Kelvin wave regime inferred from the satellite-derived sea surface height anomalies (SSHA) shows a distinct annual cycle composed of two pairs of alternate upwelling (first one occurring during January–March and the second one occurring during August–September) and downwelling (first one occurring during April–June and the second one occurring during October–December) Kelvin waves that propagate eastward along the equator and hit the Sumatra coast and bifurcate. The northern branches propagate counterclockwise over varied distances along the coastal wave guide of the BoB. The potential mechanisms that contribute to the mid-way termination of the first upwelling and the first downwelling Kelvin waves in the wave guide of the BoB are hypothesized. The second downwelling Kelvin wave alone reaches the southeastern AS, and it shows large interannual variability caused primarily by similar variability in the equatorial westerly winds during boreal fall. The westward propagating downwelling Rossby waves triggered by the second downwelling Kelvin wave off the eastern rim of the BoB also shows large interannual variability in the near surface thermal structure derived from SODA analysis. The strength of the equatorial westerlies driven by the east–west gradient of the heat sources in the troposphere appears to be a critical factor in determining the observed interannual variability of the second downwelling Kelvin wave in the wave guides of the equatorial Indian Ocean, the coastal BoB, and the southeastern AS.     

Metazoan meiofauna in deep-sea canyons and adjacent open slopes: A large-scale comparison with focus on the rare taxa

Metazoan meiofaunal abundance, total biomass, nematode size and the richness of taxa were investigated along bathymetric gradients (from the shelf break down to ca. 5000-m depth) in six submarine canyons and on five adjacent open slopes of three deep-sea regions. The investigated areas were distributed along >2500 km, on the Portuguese to the Catalan and South Adriatic margins. The Portuguese and Catalan margins displayed the highest abundances, biomass and richness of taxa, while the lowest values were observed in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The comparison between canyons and the nearby open slopes showed the lack of significant differences in terms of meiofaunal abundance and biomass at any sampling depth. In most canyons and on most slopes, meiofaunal variables did not display consistent bathymetric patterns. Conversely, we found that the different topographic features were apparently responsible for significant differences in the abundance and distribution of the rare meiofaunal taxa (i.e. taxa accounting for <1% of total meiofaunal abundance). Several taxa belonging to the temporary meiofauna, such as larvae/juveniles of Priapulida, Holothuroidea, Ascidiacea and Cnidaria, were encountered exclusively on open slopes, while others (including the Tanaidacea and Echinodea larvae) were found exclusively in canyons sediments. Results reported here indicate that, at large spatial scales, differences in deep-sea meiofaunal abundance and biomass are not only controlled by the available food sources, but also by the region or habitat specific topographic features, which apparently play a key role in the distribution of rare benthic taxa.     

Composition and heterogeneity of the microbial community in a coastal microbial mat as revealed by the analysis of pigments and phospholipid-derived fatty acids

The beaches of the North Sea barrier island Schiermonnikoog (The Netherlands) are covered by microbial mats. Five types of microbial mats were distinguished based on a variety of characteristics, located along a transect perpendicular to the coast. Biomass abundance and composition of the microbial community were analyzed in these mats using pigments and phospholipid-derived fatty acids (PLFA) as biomarkers. Biomass per gram sediment increased more than six-fold from the mats at the low water mark to mats found at the edge of the dunes. Microscopic analysis revealed that the increase in biomass was accompanied by a change in species composition. Pigment- and PLFA composition reflected the changes in species composition. The PLFA data could be used to estimate the relative group abundance using the matrix factorization program CHEMTAX., whereas the pigment data were found not to be suitable for this purpose.