Using a metabolomics approach to investigate the sensitivity of a potential Arctic-invader and its Arctic sister-species to marine heatwaves and traditional harvesting disturbances.

Coastal species are threatened by fishing practices and changing environmental conditions, such as marine heatwaves (MHW). The mechanisms that confer tolerance to such stressors in marine invertebrates are poorly understood. However, differences in tolerance among different species may be attributed to their geographical distribution. To test the tolerance of species occupying different thermal ranges, we used two closely related bivalves the softshell clam Mya arenaria (Linnaeus, 1758), a cold-temperate invader with demonstrated potential for establishment in the Arctic, and the blunt gaper Mya truncata (Linnaeus, 1758), a native polar species. Clams were subjected to a thermal stress, mimicking a MHW, and harvesting stress in a controlled environment. Seven acute temperature changes (2, 7, 12, 17, 22, 27, and 32 °C) were tested at two harvesting disturbance intensities (with, without). Survival was measured after 12 days and three tissues (gills, mantle, and posterior adductor muscle) collected from surviving individuals for targeted metabolomic profiling. MHW tolerance differed significantly between species: 26.9 °C for M. arenaria and 17.8 °C for M. truncata, with a negligeable effect of harvesting. At the upper thermal limit, M. arenaria displayed a more profound metabolomic remodelling when compared to M. truncata, and this varied greatly between tissue types. Network analysis revealed differences in pathway utilization at the upper MHW limit, with M. arenaria displaying a greater reliance on multiple DNA repair and expression and cell signalling pathways, while M. truncata was limited to fewer pathways. This suggests that M. truncata is ill equipped to cope with warming environments. MHW patterning in the Northwest Atlantic may be a strong predictor of population survival and future range shifts in these two clam species. As polar environments undergo faster rates of warming compared to the global average, M. truncata may be outcompeted by M. arenaria expanding into its native range.

Environmental stressors, complex interactions and marine benthic communities' responses.

The increasing number and diversity of anthropogenic stressors in marine habitats have multiple negative impacts on biological systems, biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Methods to assess cumulative effects include experimental manipulations, which may identify non-linear responses (i.e. synergies, antagonisms). However, experiments designed to test these ideas are uncommon, generally focusing on single biological responses. We conducted a manipulative experiment to investigate the isolated and combined effects of warming (+ 6 °C), salinity variation (freshwater pulses or presses), and nutrient enrichment (natural or enriched) following one and three month's exposure, on responses measured at multiple levels of biological complexity in a simple bivalve assemblage. More specifically, we determined effects on bivalve mortality, growth, shell mineralization, and energy content, as well as microphytobenthos biomass. Salinity variation and nutrient enrichment, individually and combined, caused strong impacts on some of the measured variables and their effect varied through time. In contrast, warming had no effect. Our work highlights the prevalence of antagonistic interactions, the importance of examining effects of single and multiple stressors through time, and of considering multiple responses to understand the complexity behind stressor interactions.

Relative Importance of Biotic and Abiotic Forces on the Composition and Dynamics of a Soft-Sediment Intertidal Community.

Top-down, bottom-up, middle-out and abiotic factors are usually viewed as main forces structuring biological communities, although assessment of their relative importance, in a single study, is rarely done. We quantified, using multivariate methods, associations between abiotic and biotic (top-down, bottom-up and middle-out) variables and infaunal population/community variation on intertidal mudflats in the Bay of Fundy, Canada, over two years. Our analysis indicated that spatial structural factors like site and plot accounted for most of the community and population variation. Although we observed a significant relationship between the community/populations and the biotic and abiotic variables, most were of minor importance relative to the structural factors. We suggest that community and population structure were relatively uncoupled from the structuring influences of biotic and abiotic factors in this system because of high concentrations of resources that sustain high densities of infauna and limit exploitative competition. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the infaunal community primarily reflects stochastic spatial events, namely a "first come, first served" process.

Evidence-based tool surpasses expert opinion in predicting probability of eradication of aquatic nonindigenous species.

The main objective of evidence-based management is to promote use of scientific data in the decision-making process of managers, with data either complementing or replacing expert knowledge. It is expected that this will increase the efficiency of environmental interventions. However, the relative accuracy and precision of evidence-based tools and expert knowledge has seldom been evaluated. It is therefore essential to verify whether such tools provide better decision support before advocating their use. We conducted an elicitation survey in which experts were asked to (1) evaluate the influence of various factors on the success of eradication programs for aquatic nonindigenous species and (2) provide probabilities of success for real case studies for which we knew the outcome. The responses of experts were compared with the results and predictions of a newly developed evidence-based tool: a statistical model calibrated with a meta-analysis of case studies designed to evaluate probability of eradication. Experts and the model generally identified the same factors as influencing the probability of success. However, the model provided much more accurate estimates for the probability of eradication than expert opinion, strongly suggesting that an evidence-based approach is superior to expert knowledge in this case. Uncertainty surrounding the predictions of the evidence-based tool was similar to among-expert variability. Finally, a model based on >30 case studies returned more accurate predictions than expert opinion. We conclude that decision-making processes based on expert judgment would greatly benefit from incorporating evidence-based tools.

Motile male gametes of the araphid diatom Tabularia fasciculata search randomly for mates.

Sexuality in the marine araphid diatom Tabularia involves an unusual type of gamete, not only among diatoms but possibly in all of nature. The non-flagellated male gamete is free and vigorously motile, propelled by pseudopodia. However, the cues (if any) in their search for compatible female gametes and the general search patterns to locate them are unknown. We tracked and compared male gamete movements in the presence and absence of receptive female gametes. Path linearity of male movement was not affected by presence of female gametes. Male gametes did not move towards female gametes regardless of their proximity to each other, suggesting that the detection range for a compatible mate is very small compared to known algal examples (mostly spermatozoids) and that mate recognition requires (near) contact with a female gamete. We therefore investigated how male gametes move to bring insight into their search strategy and found that it was consistent with the predictions of a random-walk model with changes in direction coming from an even distribution. We further investigated the type of random walk by determining the best-fit distribution on the tail of the move length distribution and found it to be consistent with a truncated power law distribution with an exponent of 2.34. Although consistent with a Lévy walk search pattern, the range of move lengths in the tail was too narrow for Lévy properties to emerge and so would be best described as Brownian motion. This is somewhat surprising because female gametes were often outnumbered by male gametes, thus contrary to the assumption that a Brownian search mode may be most optimal with an abundant target resource. This is also the first mathematically analysed search pattern of a non-flagellated protistan gamete, supporting the notion that principles of Brownian motion have wide application in biology.

Spatial variation in population structure and its relation to movement and the potential for dispersal in a model intertidal invertebrate.

Dispersal, the movement of an individual away from its natal or breeding ground, has been studied extensively in birds and mammals to understand the costs and benefits of movement behavior. Whether or not invertebrates disperse in response to such attributes as habitat quality or density of conspecifics remains uncertain, due in part to the difficulties in marking and recapturing invertebrates. In the upper Bay of Fundy, Canada, the intertidal amphipod Corophium volutator swims at night around the new or full moon. Furthermore, this species is regionally widespread across a large spatial scale with site-to-site variation in population structure. Such variation provides a backdrop against which biological determinants of dispersal can be investigated. We conducted a large-scale study at nine mudflats, and used swimmer density, sampled using stationary plankton nets, as a proxy for dispersing individuals. We also sampled mud residents using sediment cores over 3 sampling rounds (20-28 June, 10-17 July, 2-11 August 2010). Density of swimmers was most variable at the largest spatial scales, indicating important population-level variation. The smallest juveniles and large juveniles or small adults (particularly females) were consistently overrepresented as swimmers. Small juveniles swam at most times and locations, whereas swimming of young females decreased with increasing mud presence of young males, and swimming of large juveniles decreased with increasing mud presence of adults. Swimming in most stages increased with density of mud residents; however, proportionally less swimming occurred as total mud resident density increased. We suggest small juveniles move in search of C. volutator aggregations which possibly act as a proxy for better habitat. We also suggest large juveniles and small adults move if potential mates are limiting. Future studies can use sampling designs over large spatial scales with varying population structure to help understand the behavioral ecology of movement, and dispersal in invertebrate taxa.

Dispersal of marine benthic invertebrates through ice rafting.

Knowledge of dispersal vectors used by organisms is essential to the understanding of population and community dynamics. We report on ice rafting, a vector by which intertidal benthic invertebrates can be transported well outside their normal dispersal range during winter in temperate climates. We found multiple invertebrate taxa in sediment-laden ice blocks sampled in the intertidal zone. A large proportion of individuals were alive and active when freed from the ice. Using radio tracking, we found that ice blocks can travel over 20 km within a few days. Given the abundance of highly mobile ice blocks carrying viable invertebrates, we conclude that ice-rafting is likely an important dispersal vector, contributing to spatial community dynamics in intertidal systems. This mechanism helps explain observed genetic structure of populations, but it also raises concerns about potential negative impacts of climate change on connectivity between populations.