Cold-water coral Dendrophyllia ramea as a habitat-forming species in shallow coastal waters: Its role in a vulnerable ecosystem and anthropogenic impacts

The importance of habitat-forming species, particularly cold-water corals like Dendrophyllia ramea, cannot be overstated as they provide crucial physical structures that offer shelter, food, and breeding habitat for a range of other species. We studied the spatial distribution and abundance of D. ra...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Estévez, Rocío M., Palacios, Marina, Cervera, Juan Lucas, González-Duarte, Manuel M.
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/386077
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/386077
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85205016862
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Epibiont species
Macro-benthic organisms
Marine ecosystems
Marine litter
Mediterranean Sea
Spatial distribution
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spelling Cold-water coral Dendrophyllia ramea as a habitat-forming species in shallow coastal waters: Its role in a vulnerable ecosystem and anthropogenic impactsEstévez, Rocío M.Palacios, MarinaCervera, Juan LucasGonzález-Duarte, Manuel M.Epibiont speciesMacro-benthic organismsMarine ecosystemsMarine litterMediterranean SeaSpatial distributionThe importance of habitat-forming species, particularly cold-water corals like Dendrophyllia ramea, cannot be overstated as they provide crucial physical structures that offer shelter, food, and breeding habitat for a range of other species. We studied the spatial distribution and abundance of D. ramea, its associated species and the impact of human activities in a population of the Herradura, Granada in the western Mediterranean. Video transects were conducted at different depths, and epibiont samples were collected to describe the coral assemblage and the diversity of associated organisms. Dendrophyllia ramea presented high abundances at an unusually shallow depth in the Mediterranean, ranging from 30 to 48 m, despite typically being found between 50 and 500 m, with recordings indicating occurrences as deep as 1000 m, and hosting a high number of epibionts and macro-benthic organisms associated with coral reefs. Bryozoans showed a close relationship with D. ramea as they are important components of both the reef and the epibiont community. This study identified 63 new species and 15 new genera associated with cold-water corals. This study showed the importance of D. ramea as a nursery site, even for other habitat-forming species. The major threat to this community is human activity (fishing, littering and free anchoring), with the most abundant types of waste being rubber, glass/ceramics, and plastic polymers, and many fishing lines and nets damaging the corals. Overall, this study emphasises the urgent need to protect cold-water corals and their associated species and reduce the impact of human activities on marine ecosystems.This work was supported by the Deep Core Project from the NGOs Coral Soul, and Coral Guardian and ESMARES2-INFRA from the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), under the framework ordered to the IEO-CSIC by the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (MITECO) of the Spanish government for the application of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in Spanish waters.Peer reviewedCambridge University PressCSIC - Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO)Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (España)Estévez, Rocío M. [0000-0002-9303-4191]Palacios, Marina [0000-0001-6357-9054]Cervera, Juan Lucas [0000-0002-8337-2867]González-Duarte, Manuel M. [0000-0002-1243-8232]Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]202520252024info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/386077https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85205016862reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)InglésCentro Oceanográfico de Cádiz, (COCAD)The underlying dataset has been published as supplementary material of the article in the publisher platform at DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315424000626https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315424000626Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/3860772026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Cold-water coral Dendrophyllia ramea as a habitat-forming species in shallow coastal waters: Its role in a vulnerable ecosystem and anthropogenic impacts
title Cold-water coral Dendrophyllia ramea as a habitat-forming species in shallow coastal waters: Its role in a vulnerable ecosystem and anthropogenic impacts
spellingShingle Cold-water coral Dendrophyllia ramea as a habitat-forming species in shallow coastal waters: Its role in a vulnerable ecosystem and anthropogenic impacts
Estévez, Rocío M.
Epibiont species
Macro-benthic organisms
Marine ecosystems
Marine litter
Mediterranean Sea
Spatial distribution
title_short Cold-water coral Dendrophyllia ramea as a habitat-forming species in shallow coastal waters: Its role in a vulnerable ecosystem and anthropogenic impacts
title_full Cold-water coral Dendrophyllia ramea as a habitat-forming species in shallow coastal waters: Its role in a vulnerable ecosystem and anthropogenic impacts
title_fullStr Cold-water coral Dendrophyllia ramea as a habitat-forming species in shallow coastal waters: Its role in a vulnerable ecosystem and anthropogenic impacts
title_full_unstemmed Cold-water coral Dendrophyllia ramea as a habitat-forming species in shallow coastal waters: Its role in a vulnerable ecosystem and anthropogenic impacts
title_sort Cold-water coral Dendrophyllia ramea as a habitat-forming species in shallow coastal waters: Its role in a vulnerable ecosystem and anthropogenic impacts
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Estévez, Rocío M.
Palacios, Marina
Cervera, Juan Lucas
González-Duarte, Manuel M.
author Estévez, Rocío M.
author_facet Estévez, Rocío M.
Palacios, Marina
Cervera, Juan Lucas
González-Duarte, Manuel M.
author_role author
author2 Palacios, Marina
Cervera, Juan Lucas
González-Duarte, Manuel M.
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv CSIC - Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO)
Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (España)
Estévez, Rocío M. [0000-0002-9303-4191]
Palacios, Marina [0000-0001-6357-9054]
Cervera, Juan Lucas [0000-0002-8337-2867]
González-Duarte, Manuel M. [0000-0002-1243-8232]
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Epibiont species
Macro-benthic organisms
Marine ecosystems
Marine litter
Mediterranean Sea
Spatial distribution
topic Epibiont species
Macro-benthic organisms
Marine ecosystems
Marine litter
Mediterranean Sea
Spatial distribution
description The importance of habitat-forming species, particularly cold-water corals like Dendrophyllia ramea, cannot be overstated as they provide crucial physical structures that offer shelter, food, and breeding habitat for a range of other species. We studied the spatial distribution and abundance of D. ramea, its associated species and the impact of human activities in a population of the Herradura, Granada in the western Mediterranean. Video transects were conducted at different depths, and epibiont samples were collected to describe the coral assemblage and the diversity of associated organisms. Dendrophyllia ramea presented high abundances at an unusually shallow depth in the Mediterranean, ranging from 30 to 48 m, despite typically being found between 50 and 500 m, with recordings indicating occurrences as deep as 1000 m, and hosting a high number of epibionts and macro-benthic organisms associated with coral reefs. Bryozoans showed a close relationship with D. ramea as they are important components of both the reef and the epibiont community. This study identified 63 new species and 15 new genera associated with cold-water corals. This study showed the importance of D. ramea as a nursery site, even for other habitat-forming species. The major threat to this community is human activity (fishing, littering and free anchoring), with the most abundant types of waste being rubber, glass/ceramics, and plastic polymers, and many fishing lines and nets damaging the corals. Overall, this study emphasises the urgent need to protect cold-water corals and their associated species and reduce the impact of human activities on marine ecosystems.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Publisher's version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/386077
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85205016862
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/386077
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85205016862
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Centro Oceanográfico de Cádiz, (COCAD)
The underlying dataset has been published as supplementary material of the article in the publisher platform at DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315424000626
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315424000626
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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