Thermal and Hydrodynamic Environments Mediate Individual and Aggregative Feeding of a Functionally Important Omnivore in Reef Communities
In eastern Canada, the destruction of kelp beds by dense aggregations (fronts) of the omnivorous green sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, is a key determinant of the structure and dynamics of shallow reef communities. Recent studies suggest that hydrodynamic forces, but not sea temperatu...
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ftrepec:oai:RePEc:plo:pone00:0118583 2023-05-15T17:22:19+02:00 Thermal and Hydrodynamic Environments Mediate Individual and Aggregative Feeding of a Functionally Important Omnivore in Reef Communities Desta L Frey Patrick Gagnon https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118583 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118583&type=printable unknown https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118583 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118583&type=printable article ftrepec 2020-12-04T13:34:09Z In eastern Canada, the destruction of kelp beds by dense aggregations (fronts) of the omnivorous green sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, is a key determinant of the structure and dynamics of shallow reef communities. Recent studies suggest that hydrodynamic forces, but not sea temperature, determine the strength of urchin-kelp interactions, which deviates from the tenets of the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE). We tested the hypothesis that water temperature can predict short-term kelp bed destruction by S. droebachiensis in calm hydrodynamic environments. Specifically, we experimentally determined relationships among water temperature, body size, and individual feeding in the absence of waves, as well as among wave velocity, season, and aggregative feeding. We quantified variation in kelp-bed boundary dynamics, sea temperature, and wave height over three months at one subtidal site in Newfoundland to test the validity of thermal tipping ranges and regression equations derived from laboratory results. Consistent with the MTE, individual feeding during early summer (June-July) obeyed a non-linear, size- and temperature-dependent relationship: feeding in large urchins was consistently highest and positively correlated with temperature Article in Journal/Newspaper Newfoundland RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) Canada |
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Open Polar |
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RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) |
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ftrepec |
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description |
In eastern Canada, the destruction of kelp beds by dense aggregations (fronts) of the omnivorous green sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, is a key determinant of the structure and dynamics of shallow reef communities. Recent studies suggest that hydrodynamic forces, but not sea temperature, determine the strength of urchin-kelp interactions, which deviates from the tenets of the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE). We tested the hypothesis that water temperature can predict short-term kelp bed destruction by S. droebachiensis in calm hydrodynamic environments. Specifically, we experimentally determined relationships among water temperature, body size, and individual feeding in the absence of waves, as well as among wave velocity, season, and aggregative feeding. We quantified variation in kelp-bed boundary dynamics, sea temperature, and wave height over three months at one subtidal site in Newfoundland to test the validity of thermal tipping ranges and regression equations derived from laboratory results. Consistent with the MTE, individual feeding during early summer (June-July) obeyed a non-linear, size- and temperature-dependent relationship: feeding in large urchins was consistently highest and positively correlated with temperature |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Desta L Frey Patrick Gagnon |
spellingShingle |
Desta L Frey Patrick Gagnon Thermal and Hydrodynamic Environments Mediate Individual and Aggregative Feeding of a Functionally Important Omnivore in Reef Communities |
author_facet |
Desta L Frey Patrick Gagnon |
author_sort |
Desta L Frey |
title |
Thermal and Hydrodynamic Environments Mediate Individual and Aggregative Feeding of a Functionally Important Omnivore in Reef Communities |
title_short |
Thermal and Hydrodynamic Environments Mediate Individual and Aggregative Feeding of a Functionally Important Omnivore in Reef Communities |
title_full |
Thermal and Hydrodynamic Environments Mediate Individual and Aggregative Feeding of a Functionally Important Omnivore in Reef Communities |
title_fullStr |
Thermal and Hydrodynamic Environments Mediate Individual and Aggregative Feeding of a Functionally Important Omnivore in Reef Communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thermal and Hydrodynamic Environments Mediate Individual and Aggregative Feeding of a Functionally Important Omnivore in Reef Communities |
title_sort |
thermal and hydrodynamic environments mediate individual and aggregative feeding of a functionally important omnivore in reef communities |
url |
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118583 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118583&type=printable |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_relation |
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118583 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118583&type=printable |
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1766108905596780544 |