Lessons from the South: Dominance of NIS on artificial structures in cold-temperate areas

GIACHETTI CLARA BELEN; BATTINI NICOLÁS; CASTRO KAREN LIDIA; TATIÁN MARCOS; SCHWINDT EVANGELINA

Baltimore

Conferencia; XI Internacional Marine Bioinvasions Conference; 2023

Society for the Study of Marine Bioinvasions

In urbanized coastal areas, artificial structures are inhabited byfouling communities with a large richness of NIS, compared with natural rockyshores. Among these species, ascidians are one of the most successful invasivespecies worldwide. The goal of this study is to understand the ecologicalpatterns and processes that determine the colonization success of NIS ondifferent artificial structures. Through field and aquarium experiments, weshowed that predation pressure varies among types of artificial structures,between juveniles and adult ascidians, and across species. However, this differential predation pressure on invasiveascidians cannotexplain, by itself, the abundance patterns of dominant ascidian species: Ascidiellaaspersa keeps a constant but larger abundance only exceed by Cionarobusta’s abundance during fall. Studying theirreproductive ecology through histological analyses, we observed that A.aspersa presents a seasonal cycle different from its native range, while C.robusta has a similar reproductive ecology in both invasive and nativerange. Our results showed that a differential predation along the life cycle ofascidians and variations in their reproductive ecology might be shaping thecolonization success of these organisms on cold-temperate regions. Comprehendingthese factors might help us to predict and prevent future impacts on urbanizedcoastal areas.@font-face{font-family:"Cambria Math";panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:roman;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face{font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;mso-font-charset:0;mso-generic-font-family:swiss;mso-font-pitch:variable;mso-font-signature:-469750017 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal{mso-style-unhide:no;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";margin:0cm;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}span.Ninguno{mso-style-name:Ninguno;mso-style-unhide:no;mso-style-parent:"";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault{mso-style-type:export-only;mso-default-props:yes;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}div.WordSection1{page:WordSection1;}