Aubert, A., Antajan, E., Lynam, C., Pitois, S., Pliru, A., Vaz, S., et al. (2018). No more reason for ignoring gelatinous zooplankton in ecosystem assessment and marine management: Concrete cost-effective methodology during routine fishery trawl surveys. Mar. Pol., 89, 100–108.
Résumé: Gelatinous zooplankton, including cnidarians, ctenophores, and tunicates (appendicularians, pyrosomes, salps and doliolids), are often overlooked by scientific studies, ecosystem assessments and at a management level. Despite the important economic consequences that they can have on human activities and on the marine food web, arguments often related to the costs of monitoring or their coordination, or simply negligence, have resulted in the absence of relevant monitoring programs. A cost-effective protocol has been applied on trawling from existing fishery surveys conducted by national laboratories in England and France. The testing phase has successfully demonstrated the adequacy of such a tool to sample macro- and mega-zooplankton gelatinous organisms in a cost-effective way. This success has led to the acceptance of this protocol into the French implementation of the EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Here, a protocol which can be applied to any trawl-based fishery survey and in any new large-scale monitoring program is provided. As an ecosystem approach to marine management is currently adopted, exemplified by the MSFD in Europe, gelatinous zoo plankton should be monitored correctly to prevent a knowledge gap and bias to ecosystem assessments in future.
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Blanchet, M., Pringault, O., Bouvy, M., Catala, P., Oriol, L., Caparros, J., et al. (2015). Changes in bacterial community metabolism and composition during the degradation of dissolved organic matter from the jellyfish Aurelia aurita in a Mediterranean coastal lagoon. Environ Sci Pollut Res, 22(18), 13638–13653.
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Bonnet, D., Molinero, J. C., Schohn, T., & Yahia, M. N. D. (2012). Seasonal changes in the population dynamics of Aurelia aurita in Thau lagoon. Cah. Biol. Mar., 53(3), 343–347.
Résumé: Seasonal dynamics of the scyphomedusae, Aurelia aurita, was investigated twice a month from January 2010 to June 2011 and related to environmental conditions in Thau lagoon, southwestern Mediterranean Sea. Strobilation, indicated by the presence of 1 mm ephyrae, occurred from November to the middle of April. Maximum abundances up to 330 ind.100 m(-3) were reached in May 2011, few weeks after the last ephyrae release. The population declines afterwards steadily until disappearing from the water column. Concurrent with increased water temperature and mesozooplankton predation during May, growth rates increased from 0.04 mm.day(-1) to a peak of 4.5 mm.day(-1), with a maximum bell diameter of 11.3 cm reached on the 7th May. During the study period, there was no advection of A. aurita between Thau lagoon and the coastal waters.
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David, C., Vaz, S., Loots, C., Antajan, E., van der Molen, J., & Travers-Trolet, M. (2015). Understanding winter distribution and transport pathways of the invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the North Sea: coupling habitat and dispersal modelling approaches. Biol. Invasions, 17(9), 2605–2619.
Résumé: The invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi has been reported in various coastal locations in the southern North Sea in the past years. Since 2009, International Bottom Trawl Surveys have recorded this species each winter in open waters. As this species, well-known for its dramatic disturbance of ecosystems, was expected not to be able to overwinter offshore it is crucial to understand its distribution dynamics. Two modelling methods, a quantile regression and a particle tracking model, were used (1) to identify habitats where the invasive ctenophore M. leidyi could survive the North Sea cold winters and (2) to investigate the dispersal of individuals between these different habitats, emphasizing favorable areas where sustainable populations could have been established. Temperature was found to be the crucial factor controlling the winter distribution of M. leidyi in the North Sea. High abundance predictions in winter were associated with low values of temperature, which characterise south-eastern coastal areas and estuaries influenced by riverine runoff. A retention-based M. leidyi population was indicated along the northern Dutch coast and German Bight and a transport-based population offshore from the western Danish coast. Individuals found in the open waters were transported from southern coasts of the North Sea, thus the open water population densities depend on the flux of offspring from these areas. This study provides the first estimates of the overwinter areas of this invasive species over the cold winters in the North Sea. Based on the agreement of habitat and dispersal model results, we conclude that M. leidyi has become established along south-eastern coasts of the North Sea where the environment conditions allows overwintering and it can be retained for later blooms.
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Jaspers, C., Huwer, B., Antajan, E., Hosia, A., Hinrichsen, H. - H., Biastoch, A., et al. (2018). Ocean current connectivity propelling the secondary spread of a marine invasive comb jelly across western Eurasia. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr., 27(7), 814–827.
Résumé: Aim: Invasive species are of increasing global concern. Nevertheless, the mechanisms driving further distribution after the initial establishment of non-native species remain largely unresolved, especially in marine systems. Ocean currents can be a major driver governing range occupancy, but this has not been accounted for in most invasion ecology studies so far. We investigate how well initial establishment areas are interconnected to later occupancy regions to test for the potential role of ocean currents driving secondary spread dynamics in order to infer invasion corridors and the source-sink dynamics of a non-native holoplanktonic biological probe species on a continental scale. Location: Western Eurasia. Time period: 1980s-2016. Major taxa studied: 'Comb jelly' Mnemiopsis leidyi. Methods: Based on 12,400 geo-referenced occurrence data, we reconstruct the invasion history of M. leidyi in western Eurasia. We model ocean currents and calculate their stability to match the temporal and spatial spread dynamics with large-scale connectivity patterns via ocean currents. Additionally, genetic markers are used to test the predicted connectivity between subpopulations. Results: Ocean currents can explain secondary spread dynamics, matching observed range expansions and the timing of first occurrence of our holoplanktonic non-native biological probe species, leading to invasion corridors in western Eurasia. In northern Europe, regional extinctions after cold winters were followed by rapid recolonizations at a speed of up to 2,000 km per season. Source areas hosting year-round populations in highly interconnected regions can re-seed genotypes over large distances after local extinctions. Main conclusions: Although the release of ballast water from container ships may contribute to the dispersal of non-native species, our results highlight the importance of ocean currents driving secondary spread dynamics. Highly interconnected areas hosting invasive species are crucial for secondary spread dynamics on a continental scale. Invasion risk assessments should consider large-scale connectivity patterns and the potential source regions of non-native marine species.
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