Resilient consumers accelerate the plant decomposition in a naturally acidified seagrass ecosystem ...

• Main Authors: Lee, Juhyung, Gambi, Maria Cristina, Kroeker, Kristy, Munari, Marco, Peay, Kabir, Micheli, Fiorenza
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2022
• Subjects: Ocean acidification OA; Seagrass; Detritivore; Carbon sequestration; Posidonia oceanica; FOS: Biological sciences; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3j9kd51mp; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.3j9kd51mp

Anthropogenic stressors are predicted to alter biodiversity and ecosystem functioning worldwide. However, scaling up from species to ecosystem responses poses a challenge, as species and functional groups can exhibit different capacities to adapt, acclimate, and compensate under changing environments. We used a naturally acidified seagrass ecosystem (the endemic Mediterranean Posidonia oceanica) as a model system to examine how ocean acidification (OA) modifies the community structure and functioning of plant detritivores, which play vital roles in the coastal nutrient cycling and food web dynamics. In seagrass beds associated with volcanic CO2 vents (Ischia, Italy), we quantified the effects of OA on seagrass decomposition by deploying litterbags in three distinct pH zones (i.e., ambient, low, extreme low pH), which differed in the mean and variability of seawater pH. We replicated the study in two discrete vents for 117 days (litterbags sampled on day 5, 10, 28, 55, and 117). Acidification reduced seagrass ... : Study sites and environmental parameters We utilized two discrete CO2 vents near the Castello Aragonese islet at Ischia Island (Italy, 40°43'57" N, 13°57'52" E) (Fig. 2A). The first site was located at 2-3 m depth on the north side of the islet (referred henceforth to as North Castello), characterized by sloping rocky reefs and continuous tracts of P. oceanica beds surrounding the reef (Fig. 2B). The second site was located approximately 500 m away from North Castello and 150 m from the nearest shore at a depth of 3-6 m (referred to henceforth as Vullatura). This site was characterized by soft-bottom habitats (sandy or dead Posidonia matte) surrounded by seagrass patches growing over 2-3 m tall pinnacles and ridges of Posidonia matte (Gambi et al., 2020; Mecca et al., 2020) (Fig. 2C). At North Castello, we established three pH zones (ambient, low, and extreme low pH; depth 3-3.5 m) delineated by previous studies based on seawater carbonate chemistry analyses and in situ pH monitoring (Hall-Spencer et al., ...