Reconstructing Bioinvasion Dynamics Through Micropaleontologic Analysis Highlights the Role of Temperature Change as a Driver of Alien Foraminifera Invasion

Invasive alien species threaten biodiversity and ecosystem structure and functioning, but incomplete assessments of their origins and temporal trends impair our ability to understand the relative importance of different factors driving invasion success. Continuous time-series are needed to assess in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Marine Science Vol. 8
Main Authors: Guastella, Roberta, Marchini, Agnese, Caruso, Antonio, Evans, Julian, Cobianchi, Miriam, Cosentino, Claudia, Langone, Leonardo, Lecci, Rita, Mancin, Nicoletta
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Lausanne Frontiers Research Foundation 07.06.2021
Frontiers Media S.A
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Congeners
Cores
Ecosystem structure
Foraminifera
Introduced species
Invasive species
Mediterranean Sea
Population
Population dynamics
Radiometric dating
Sea surface
Sea surface temperature
sea warming
Sedimentation & deposition
Sediments
SST
Taxa
Trends
Red Sea
Mediterranean Sea
Malta
ISSN:2296-7745, 2296-7745
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Invasive alien species threaten biodiversity and ecosystem structure and functioning, but incomplete assessments of their origins and temporal trends impair our ability to understand the relative importance of different factors driving invasion success. Continuous time-series are needed to assess invasion dynamics, but such data are usually difficult to obtain, especially in the case of small-sized taxa that may remain undetected for several decades. In this study, we show how micropaleontologic analysis of sedimentary cores coupled with radiometric dating can be used to date the first arrival and to reconstruct temporal trends of foraminiferal species, focusing on the alien Amphistegina lobifera and its cryptogenic congener A. lessonii in the Maltese Islands. Our results show that the two species had reached the Central Mediterranean Sea several decades earlier than reported in the literature, with considerable implications for all previous hypotheses of their spreading patterns and rates. By relating the population dynamics of the two foraminifera with trends in sea surface temperature, we document a strong relationship between sea warming and population outbreaks of both species. We conclude that the micropaleontologic approach is a reliable procedure for reconstructing the bioinvasion dynamics of taxa having mineralized remains, and can be added to the toolkit for studying invasions.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:2296-7745
2296-7745
DOI:10.3389/fmars.2021.675807