Jennifer L. Burnaford

Top-down and bottom-up regulation of New Zealand rocky intertidal communities

Studies on the west coast of North America suggest that nearshore oceanographic conditions can have important effects on rocky intertidal community structure and dynamics. Specifically, upwelling-dependent processes in coastal waters can affect both top-down and bottom-up processes on adjacent rocky shores. As a first step in testing the prediction that similar linkages occur elsewhere, we investigated the effects and rates of predation, grazing, and recruitment on rocky intertidal community dynamics at upwelling and non-upwelling sites on the South Island of New Zealand. Comparative-experimental studies were done at each of two sites on both the east and west coasts of the South Island. We quantified benthic community structure, maximal wave force, nearshore sea-surface temperature, air temperature at low tide, nutrient concentrations, survival of mussels, rates and effects of predation, rates and effects of limpet grazing, recruitment of mussels and barnacles, and RNA:DNA ratios (a growth index) of muss...

HABITAT MODIFICATION AND REFUGE FROM SUBLETHAL STRESS DRIVE A MARINE PLANT–HERBIVORE ASSOCIATION

Canopy-forming plants and algae, in addition to their role as food, can positively affect higher trophic levels by providing protection from predation or stressful abiotic conditions. In the low rocky intertidal zone of the Pacific Northwest, the chiton Katharina tunicata is closely associated with the canopy-forming alga Hedophyllum sessile. In a 27-month field experiment, I used experimental devices to mimic characteristics of the Hedophyllum canopy and monitored the abundance and physiology of Katharina to determine the mechanism behind this association. The data show that this association is due to selection of shaded microhabitats by Katharina, and that neither predation nor Hedophyllum per se influenced the distribution of the chiton. Exclusion of visual predators had no effect on chiton abundance, and tests of the effects of shade independent of Hedophyllum presence indicated that the shade produced by the alga was critical to the chiton. Seasonal fluctuations in levels of 70 kDa (1.16 × 10−19 g) heat shock proteins (Hsp70) indicate that Katharina experience sublethal physiological stress during the spring and summer. The corresponding use of shaded areas during spring and summer low tides suggests that the chitons distribution is limited during these seasons by the availability of refugia from sublethal abiotic stresses. Subtle variations in environmental conditions are also important to this association; the strength of the positive interaction varied annually, becoming more positive in warm summers (1998 and 2000) and neutral in a cooler summer (1999). On a finer scale, physiological measurements indicate that the response of chitons to summertime temperatures depends on both absolute temperature change and the animals recent thermal history. In particular, the seasonal onset of daytime low tides in the spring is associated with increased Hsp70 levels, indicating that this is a significant physiological event for Katharina. The importance of facultative positive interactions that allow consumers to escape from sublethal abiotic stresses will likely be variable in time but can have large impacts on communities both by affecting the small-scale distribution of consumers over the short term and potentially by affecting the persistence of organisms over the long term.

Large-scale impacts of sea star wasting disease (SSWD) on intertidal sea stars and implications for recovery

Disease outbreaks can have substantial impacts on wild populations, but the often patchy or anecdotal evidence of these impacts impedes our ability to understand outbreak dynamics. Recently however, a severe disease outbreak occurred in a group of very well-studied organisms–sea stars along the west coast of North America. We analyzed nearly two decades of data from a coordinated monitoring effort at 88 sites ranging from southern British Columbia to San Diego, California along with 2 sites near Sitka, Alaska to better understand the effects of sea star wasting disease (SSWD) on the keystone intertidal predator, Pisaster ochraceus. Quantitative surveys revealed unprecedented declines of P. ochraceus in 2014 and 2015 across nearly the entire geographic range of the species. The intensity of the impact of SSWD was not uniform across the affected area, with proportionally greater population declines in the southern regions relative to the north. The degree of population decline was unrelated to pre-outbreak P. ochraceus density, although these factors have been linked in other well-documented disease events. While elevated seawater temperatures were not broadly linked to the initial emergence of SSWD, anomalously high seawater temperatures in 2014 and 2015 might have exacerbated the disease’s impact. Both before and after the onset of the SSWD outbreak, we documented higher recruitment of P. ochraceus in the north than in the south, and while some juveniles are surviving (as evidenced by transition of recruitment pulses to larger size classes), post-SSWD survivorship is lower than during pre-SSWD periods. In hindsight, our data suggest that the SSWD event defied prediction based on two factors found to be important in other marine disease events, sea water temperature and population density, and illustrate the importance of surveillance of natural populations as one element of an integrated approach to marine disease ecology. Low levels of SSWD-symptomatic sea stars are still present throughout the impacted range, thus the outlook for population recovery is uncertain.