Environmental impact on marginal coastal benthic communities within the Jeju Island, South Korea temperate transition zone
Aim of studyMarine climatic transition zones are boundary areas of major climate zones, here the boundary between the subtropical and temperate zones. They present areas containing high abundance of organisms living at the limit of their physiological tolerance. These marginal populations are partic...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1345518/full |
| _version_ | 1827291121317838848 |
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| author | Garance Perrois Anna B. Jöst Kyeong-Tae Lee Leonard M. T. Pons Hyun-Sung Yang Young Baek Son Heung-Sik Park Do-Hyung Kang Taihun Kim |
| author_facet | Garance Perrois Anna B. Jöst Kyeong-Tae Lee Leonard M. T. Pons Hyun-Sung Yang Young Baek Son Heung-Sik Park Do-Hyung Kang Taihun Kim |
| author_sort | Garance Perrois |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Aim of studyMarine climatic transition zones are boundary areas of major climate zones, here the boundary between the subtropical and temperate zones. They present areas containing high abundance of organisms living at the limit of their physiological tolerance. These marginal populations are particularly sensitive to changes in their environment. As such, marine climatic transition zones are excellent natural playgrounds for climate change-related hypothesis testing, especially with respect to marine habitat response to ocean warming. The marginal biogenic habitats around Jeju Island, South Korea, which lies within the temperate transition zone, have gradually changed from macroalgal-dominated to hard coral-dominated habitats. Understanding the specific abiotic environmental factors that influence the distribution of the marginal populations in temperate transition zones (i.e., species at their occurrence limit) is crucial to predicting and managing temperate zone habitat changes caused by climate change. This study aims to identify the specific abiotic environmental factors that contribute to explaining the current spatial distribution of the declining temperate and expanding subtropical foundation species in Jeju waters.MethodsCoverage and composition of sessile benthic communities were determined by photo-quadrat analysis at two depths (10 m and 15 m) at three sites along the island’s south, east, and north coasts in May and November 2022. Divergences in community composition between sites were characterized in light of ten quantitative environmental parameters.ResultsOur results show that sessile foundation communities vary significantly at different sites around the island. While the south is defined by high-latitude hard corals, predominately Alveopora japonica, the east is defined by the temperate canopy-forming macroalga Ecklonia cava, and the north is characterized by coralline algae. Winter sea surface temperature, water transparency, nutrient concentration, and water movement were statistically the most impactful environmental factors determining which foundation species constitute each distinct benthic community.ConclusionThis study provides valuable baseline information on the impacts of abiotic environmental factors on marine sessile communities in a temperate transition zone. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T12:30:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2dde8d33c6394acf87c39f0e29492617 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T12:30:26Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-2dde8d33c6394acf87c39f0e294926172024-04-08T04:52:25ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452024-04-011110.3389/fmars.2024.13455181345518Environmental impact on marginal coastal benthic communities within the Jeju Island, South Korea temperate transition zoneGarance Perrois0Anna B. Jöst1Kyeong-Tae Lee2Leonard M. T. Pons3Hyun-Sung Yang4Young Baek Son5Heung-Sik Park6Do-Hyung Kang7Taihun Kim8Tropical & Subtropical Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Jeju, Republic of KoreaTropical & Subtropical Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Jeju, Republic of KoreaTropical & Subtropical Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Jeju, Republic of KoreaTropical & Subtropical Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Jeju, Republic of KoreaTropical & Subtropical Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Jeju, Republic of KoreaTropical & Subtropical Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Jeju, Republic of KoreaJeju Research Institute, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Jeju, Republic of KoreaOffice of the President, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Busan, Republic of KoreaTropical & Subtropical Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Jeju, Republic of KoreaAim of studyMarine climatic transition zones are boundary areas of major climate zones, here the boundary between the subtropical and temperate zones. They present areas containing high abundance of organisms living at the limit of their physiological tolerance. These marginal populations are particularly sensitive to changes in their environment. As such, marine climatic transition zones are excellent natural playgrounds for climate change-related hypothesis testing, especially with respect to marine habitat response to ocean warming. The marginal biogenic habitats around Jeju Island, South Korea, which lies within the temperate transition zone, have gradually changed from macroalgal-dominated to hard coral-dominated habitats. Understanding the specific abiotic environmental factors that influence the distribution of the marginal populations in temperate transition zones (i.e., species at their occurrence limit) is crucial to predicting and managing temperate zone habitat changes caused by climate change. This study aims to identify the specific abiotic environmental factors that contribute to explaining the current spatial distribution of the declining temperate and expanding subtropical foundation species in Jeju waters.MethodsCoverage and composition of sessile benthic communities were determined by photo-quadrat analysis at two depths (10 m and 15 m) at three sites along the island’s south, east, and north coasts in May and November 2022. Divergences in community composition between sites were characterized in light of ten quantitative environmental parameters.ResultsOur results show that sessile foundation communities vary significantly at different sites around the island. While the south is defined by high-latitude hard corals, predominately Alveopora japonica, the east is defined by the temperate canopy-forming macroalga Ecklonia cava, and the north is characterized by coralline algae. Winter sea surface temperature, water transparency, nutrient concentration, and water movement were statistically the most impactful environmental factors determining which foundation species constitute each distinct benthic community.ConclusionThis study provides valuable baseline information on the impacts of abiotic environmental factors on marine sessile communities in a temperate transition zone.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1345518/fullbarren groundsclimatic transition areaenvironmental controlfoundation specieshigh-latitude hard coralskelp forest |
| spellingShingle | Garance Perrois Anna B. Jöst Kyeong-Tae Lee Leonard M. T. Pons Hyun-Sung Yang Young Baek Son Heung-Sik Park Do-Hyung Kang Taihun Kim Environmental impact on marginal coastal benthic communities within the Jeju Island, South Korea temperate transition zone Frontiers in Marine Science barren grounds climatic transition area environmental control foundation species high-latitude hard corals kelp forest |
| title | Environmental impact on marginal coastal benthic communities within the Jeju Island, South Korea temperate transition zone |
| title_full | Environmental impact on marginal coastal benthic communities within the Jeju Island, South Korea temperate transition zone |
| title_fullStr | Environmental impact on marginal coastal benthic communities within the Jeju Island, South Korea temperate transition zone |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental impact on marginal coastal benthic communities within the Jeju Island, South Korea temperate transition zone |
| title_short | Environmental impact on marginal coastal benthic communities within the Jeju Island, South Korea temperate transition zone |
| title_sort | environmental impact on marginal coastal benthic communities within the jeju island south korea temperate transition zone |
| topic | barren grounds climatic transition area environmental control foundation species high-latitude hard corals kelp forest |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1345518/full |
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