Massive stranding event revealed the occurrence of an overlooked and ecosystem engineer sponge
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Massive stranding event revealed the occurrence of an overlooked and ecosystem engineer sponge Daniele Grech 1
&
Bob van de Poll 1,2 & Marco Bertolino 3 & Antonietta Rosso 4,5 & Ivan Guala 1
Received: 22 May 2020 / Revised: 10 August 2020 / Accepted: 12 August 2020 # Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung 2020
Abstract Climate change is increasing the frequency, magnitude, and socio-economic costs of unprecedented extreme weather events and disasters. An exceptional stranding event of benthic species, mainly represented by the ecosystem engineer Porifera (Demospongiae) Geodia cydonium (Linnaeus, 1767) was observed in the Gulf of Oristano (Sardinia, Italy, Western Mediterranean) in 2018 after an extreme meteorological event. The stranding phenomenon was assessed and quantified by means of quadrats sampled along the beach highlighting all the conspicuous species; the benthic sponge community in the area was evaluated through underwater SCUBA transects. Stranding reached density peaks of up to 0.88 ind m−2, and the most abundant species reported was the sponge G. cydonium, followed by molluscs, bryozoans, a rare teleost fish, and many other species. The putative source populations were identified in quite shallow (less than 2.5-m depth) Posidonia oceanica (Linnaeus) Delile, 1813 meadows, where the sponge shows a mean density of 2.0 ind m−2. The present massive stranding event is the first in Sardinia and in the Mediterranean for this species, whose distribution is still poorly known. The living population of the gulf still seems in good status, and probably only a little percentage of specimens has been struck by the exceptionally strong hurricane. This work highlights the relevance of stranding events as opportunities for providing information about local biodiversity; biological traits of G. cydonium and the need of effective monitoring plans to fill the lack of knowledge about the distribution of this protected species are discussed. Keywords Sardinia (Western Mediterranean) . Global change . Geodia cydonium . Porifera . Macrobenthos conservation . MPA
Introduction Communicated by M. Klautau Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01105-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Daniele Grech [email protected] 1
IMC - International Marine Centre, Loc. Sa Mardini, 09170 Torregrande, Oristano, Italy
2
Van Hall Larenstein, University of Applied Sciences, Agora 1, P.O. Box 1528, 8901, BV Leeuwarden, the Netherlands
3
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita (DISTAV), Università degli Studi di Genova, Corso Europa, 26, 16132 Genova, Italy
4
Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Università di Catania, Corso Italia, 57 Catania, Italy
5
CoNISMa (Consorzio Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare), Unit of Catania, Catania, Italy
In the last decades, the ongoing global change is causing increasingly extreme and catastrophic climatic eve
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