Abstract
The earth is in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, and projections indicate continuing and accelerating rates of global changes. Future alterations in communities and ecosystems may be precipitated by changes in the abundance of strongly interacting species, whose disappearance can lead to profound changes in abundance of other species, including an increase in extinction rate for some. Nearshore coastal communities are often dependent on the habitat and food resources provided by foundational plant (e.g., kelp) and animal (e.g., shellfish) species. We quantified changes in the abundance of the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), a foundation species known to influence diversity and productivity of intertidal habitats, over the past 40years in the Gulf of Maine, USA, one of the fastest warming regions in the global ocean. Using consistent survey methods, we compared contemporary population sizes to historical data from sites spanning >400km. The results of these comparisons showed that blue mussels have declined in the Gulf of Maine by >60% (range: 29-100%) at the site level since the earliest benchmarks in the 1970s. At the same time as mussels declined, community composition shifted: at the four sites with historical community data, the sessile community became increasingly algal dominated. Contemporary (2013-2014) surveys across 20 sites showed that sessile species richness was positively correlated to mussel abundance in mid to high intertidal zones. These results suggest that declines in a critical foundation species may have already impacted the intertidal community. To inform future conservation efforts, we provide a database of historical and contemporary baselines of mussel population abundance and dynamics in the Gulf of Maine. Our results underscore the importance of anticipating not only changes in diversity but also changes in the abundance and identity of component species, as strong interactors like foundation species have the potential to drive cascading community shifts.
Highlights
Direct and indirect effects of human-induced global changes have caused rapid and extreme shifts in community composition across ecosystems worldwide (Sala et al, 2000; Lotze et al., 2006)
Our objective was to answer the following specific questions: (1) Have mussels declined in abundance in the Gulf of Maine over the past 40 years? (2) Has community composition changed over this same time period, the contribution of mussels to compositional patterns? (3) Is intertidal species diversity related to mussel abundance? (4) Which locations are most susceptible to future population declines, as indicated by the lowest population sizes, proportion of juveniles, and reproductive potential?
Using consistent methodology across time, our results show that blue mussels have declined in the Gulf of Maine over the past 40 years
Summary
Direct and indirect effects of human-induced global changes have caused rapid and extreme shifts in community composition across ecosystems worldwide (Sala et al, 2000; Lotze et al., 2006). Indirect effects are pervasive in communities (Menge, 1995), so climate-change driven declines in individual, strongly interacting species may lead to chain reactions causing shifts in overall community composition (Jackson et al, 2001; Ellison et al, 2005; Bracken et al, 2007). The blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, is a critical foundation and prey species in coastal systems (Seed, 1969; Menge, 1976) and appears to be facing an increasing risk of extinction in locations along the USA east coast. Over the past 50 years, the southern range limit of established blue mussel populations in the USA has shifted by 350 km to the north, from Cape Hatteras, NC (35.2°N) to the current limit at Lewes, DE (38.8°N; Jones et al, 2010)
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