Pushing boundaries of range and resilience: a review of range-extension by a barrens-forming sea urchin

Pushingboundariesofrangeandresilience:areviewofrange-‐extensionbyabarrens-‐formingseaurchinScottD.Ling,InstituteforMarine&AntarcticStudies,UniversityofTasmania,Hobart.Tas.7001,Australia;email:Scott.Ling@utas.edu.auThebarrens-‐formingseaurchinCentrostephanusrodgersii(Diadematidae)hasundergonerece...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ling, SD
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Universidad de La Laguna 2012
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Online Access:http://ecite.utas.edu.au/80090
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Summary:Pushingboundariesofrangeandresilience:areviewofrange-‐extensionbyabarrens-‐formingseaurchinScottD.Ling,InstituteforMarine&AntarcticStudies,UniversityofTasmania,Hobart.Tas.7001,Australia;email:Scott.Ling@utas.edu.auThebarrens-‐formingseaurchinCentrostephanusrodgersii(Diadematidae)hasundergonerecentpolewardrange-‐extensiontotheTasmaniancoastline(SEAustralia).Bycompilingfieldobservations(includingSSTspanning>60yrs),broad-‐scalesurveysandmanipulativeexperimentsconductedduringthepastdecade,thisreviewdetailsknowledgeontheresponseofthiskeyseaurchinspeciestoclimatechangeandduallyexploresmultipleprocessesinfluencingtheultimateecologicalconsequenceofcatastrophic-‐shiftfromproductivekelpbedstourchinbarrens,asnowobservedwithintherange-‐extensionregion.Asaresultofchangingregionalclimate,easternTasmaniahasbecomeincreasinglysuitableforCentrostephanuslarvaldevelopmentwiththetimingoftheseaurchinsarrival,age-‐structureandspatialdistributionacrosstheextension-‐regionconsistentwithpatternsinwarmingseatemperaturesandcurrent-‐drivendispersalpotential.Furthermore,consistencyintemperaturedependencyoflarvaldevelopmentpluslackofgeneticdifferentiationofthespeciesacrossitsentirerange,confirmthecriticalroleofchangingclimateindrivingtherange-‐extension.Continuedwarmingpredictedforthisregionwillfavourincreasedlarvalsurvival,promotingongoingpopulationexpansionandultimatelyincreasedlikelihoodofpopulationsreachingsufficientdensitytoaffectwidespreadovergrazing.Assuch,knowledgeofpatternsandmechanismspromotingovergrazingarealsoreviewedforthepurposeofidentifyingkelpbedsatgreatestriskgivenclimatetrends,reefsubstratumtypesandpredatorabundance(chieflyspinylobsters)asinfluencedbyintensefishingpressure.Finally,thisreviewshowshowmanagementofnon-‐climaticlocalscalestressorscanbeusedtoincreaseresilienceofkelpbedsagainstovergrazinggivenlarge-‐scaleclimate-‐drivenincreasesinkeyseaurchinpopulations.