Utility of statolith elemental chemistry as a proxy for temperature to elucidate the movements of the Irukandji jellyfis
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Utility of statolith elemental chemistry as a proxy for temperature to elucidate the movements of the Irukandji jellyfish species Alatina alata Scott J. Morrissey1 · Angel A. Yanagihara2 · Michael J. Kingsford1,3 Received: 26 February 2020 / Accepted: 3 August 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Movements undertaken by marine organisms occur for varying reasons and knowledge surrounding them is critically important for understanding population structures, ecology and for effective management and conservation of species. The objective of this study was to test a hypothesis that the cubozoan jellyfish Alatina alata spends a large part of its life at great depths by utilising the recently validated technique of statolith elemental chemistry. The approach was to ground-truth estimates of temperature based on a previous manipulative laboratory-based experiment, determine Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca ratios in the statoliths of A. alata at different life-history stages and use elemental chemistry as an environmental marker to estimate their life-time movements. High Sr:Ca values in the core and edge of the statoliths were found which corresponded with the time jellyfish were in shallow waters. Ambient water temperatures estimated for the end period of the jellyfish’s lives closely matched known sea surface temperatures in Hawaii, hence supporting a correlation between statolith Sr:Ca and temperature. For the middle section of the statoliths, strong evidence from both Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca ratios suggested that the jellyfish reached depths of at least 200–400 m. Ba:Sr maxima further supported this as Ba concentrations are usually higher below the thermocline. Individual Sr:Ca tracks also suggested that individuals moved over a depth range of tens to hundreds of meters through undertaking regular vertical movements. This study demonstrates that the use of elemental chemistry within cubozoan statoliths has the potential to determine vertical and horizontal movements where temperature gradients are strong.
Introduction Marine organisms undertake a range of horizontal and vertical movements over multiple spatial and temporal scales (Stern 2009). These movements occur for a number of reasons including; varying habitat requirements and related resources, as well as, reproduction (Kingsford et al. 2002; Responsible Editor: A. Checa. Reviewed by undisclosed experts. * Scott J. Morrissey [email protected] 1
College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia
2
Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
3
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia
Stern 2009). Knowledge of the movements of marine organisms is critically important for population studies, ecology, and to inform effective management and conservation of marine species (Elsdon et al. 2008). In addition, the under
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