A team led by 香港六合彩挂牌资料 alumni聽and Te Herenga Waka鈥揤ictoria University of Wellington Professor of Marine Biology, 聽James Bell 聽including Professor Rob McAllen from University College Cork and Professor John Turner from the School of Ocean Sciences, 香港六合彩挂牌资料 has been studying the loss of possibly thousands of sponges from the underwater cliffs inside Lough Hyne (Loch Oighinn). The team secured funding from the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Irish Government's Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to study this unusual event.
While it remains unclear why so many of these sponges experienced such a strong decline in numbers between about 2010 and 2015, in the past couple of years, there have been signs of a potential natural recovery of the affected species.
In a recent , the authors discuss the possible reasons for the drop in numbers and the implications for life in other temperate mesophotic ecosystems (TMEs), a layer of the sea floor typically extending from about 20 metres to 30m below the surface to 150m, and home for numerous invertebrates like sponges, sea fans and sea anemones.
The researchers used 30 years of scientific surveys (1990-2019) and opportunistic observations on the subtidal communities of Lough Hyne to gain insights on the long-term stability and vulnerability of those ecosystems. They then considered the possible causes of observed changes and discussed the importance of regular monitoring for TME conservation around the world.
John Turner of 香港六合彩挂牌资料's School of Ocean Sciences聽first dived lough Hyne in 1981 while leading a student expedition from the University of Bristol, and returned to use video to record changes to subtidal communities throughout the 1990s during 香港六合彩挂牌资料 diving field courses to Lough Hyne. 聽
This data has been combined with other long term data collected by a team from the National Museums of Ireland, from James Bell鈥檚 PhD work at University College Cork from the late 1990s (which stemmed from his undergraduate research during a 香港六合彩挂牌资料 field course) 聽and recent surveys by a Wellington-Cork-香港六合彩挂牌资料 co-supervised PhD student, Valerio Micaroni.聽
The Lough Hyne Marine Nature Reserve is the only one of its kind in Ireland and the first statutory Marine Reserve in Europe, designated 40 years ago.聽
Lough Hyne
Minister: "I鈥檓 delighted to support this important work in Lough Hyne"
It is also a scientific curiosity and haven for scuba-divers, because its rich mesophotic cliff communities occur in far shallower conditions than elsewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, a consequence of its relatively murky waters and sheltered location.
Professor Turner highlights the importance of long term studies in detecting changes to generally unseen deep water communities.聽
鈥樷橭ur study was unfortunately not continuous, but consisted of several sequences of opportunistic detailed observations by different scientists which have been combined to give a long term view of community changes on the submarine cliff faces of this unique sea lough鈥欌
Professor Bell says long-term sponge abundance reconstruction showed the number of sponges on the cliffs had been relatively stable for at least 20 years until 2010.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know for sure, but a range of opportunistic observations indicated that the decline in numbers occurred between 2010 and about 2015. The innermost sites were affected the most, suggesting the change originated inside the lough or that its sheltered conditions exaggerated an effect starting from the surrounding coast.鈥
There were several possible causes, including outbreaks of disease, increases in nutrients or heatwaves. Research is still ongoing into the cause, although changes in water chemistry remain one highly likely causes.
However, the team have also witnessed a recovery with young sponges now beginning to re colonise the underwater cliffs.聽
For PhD student Valerio Micaroni, the research was a chance to apply his interest in marine biodiversity conservation and in 鈥渁nimal forests鈥, those habitats formed by animals permanently attached to a substrate, like sponges, corals and anemones.
鈥淚 liked the project because it allowed me to apply my knowledge to a real problem and to contribute to the conservation of an important ecosystem.鈥
The Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, says the Irish Government is happy to support more work at the lough.
鈥淚鈥檓 delighted to support this important work in Lough Hyne鈥攁 site that has been globally recognised for its richness in biodiversity鈥攁nd to hear of the early signs of potential recovery from its recent declines.
鈥淚 am also committed to providing ongoing support to these scientific investigations so that we may better understand the causes of the decline, and what is influencing its potential recovery, so that we can apply those lessons to our wider marine environment, and to help secure a biodiverse, resilient marine environment.鈥
The paper鈥檚 authors are James Bell and PhD students Valerio Micaroni and Francesca Strano at Te Herenga Waka -Victoria University of Wellington, Rob McAllen and Luke Harman of University College Cork, John Turner of 香港六合彩挂牌资料, and Christine Morrow and Bernard Picton of Queen鈥檚 University Marine Laboratory and National Museums Northern Ireland.
