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Study area affected by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in the USVI. a The Northeastern Antilles islands in the Western Atlantic Ocean, with hurricane tracks (lines) and hurricane force wind swaths (> 64 kt (120 km h −1 )) indicated for Hurricanes Irma (pink) and Maria (blue). Bold box outlines St. Thomas, USVI. Dots on track lines represent points of closest passage to St. Thomas. White stars show the location of
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Many studies have evaluated the impacts of hurricanes on coral communities, but far less is known about impacts, recovery, and resilience of sponge communities to these extreme events. In September 2017, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, was impacted by two Category 5 hurricanes within 2 weeks: Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Such extreme events occurrin...
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... et al. 2018. Hurricane Irma reached a peak wind speed of 155 kt (287 km h −1 ) and 915 mb of pressure when it made landfall at 1600 UTC on 6 September 2017 in Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands, about 55 km northeast of St. Thomas (Cangialosi et al. 2018). Two hours later, the center of Irma passed within 32 km to the north of St. Thomas (Fig. 1a), with a peak wind speed of 150 kt (278 km h −1 ) and 914 mb of pressure (NOAA Office for Coastal Management, 2018). The Caribbean Integrated Coastal Ocean Observing System (CarICOOS) station 41058, located north of St. Thomas, recorded a maximum wave height of 6.9 m at 1800 UTC and 11.85 m at 1900 UTC, although waves breaking over the ...
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... Wilson, personal communication). Widespread, catastrophic damage occurred throughout the USVI, particularly on St. Thomas and St. John, which received significant rainfall, causing extensive flooding and compounding wind-generated damage to buildings and vegetation. Hurricane Maria passed about 20 km southeast of St. Croix (80 km from St. Thomas; Fig. 1a) at 0600 UTC on 20 September 2017, with a peak intensity of 140 kt (259 km h −1 ) and 913 mb of pressure (NOAA Office for Coastal Management, 2018). CarICOOS station 41052, located south of St. John, recorded a maximum wave height of 7.9 m during Hurricane Maria (NOAA National Buoy Data Center, 2018). Hurricane Maria caused further ...
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... to the 2017 hurricanes, six shallow (8-15-m depth) reef sites had been selected from the 33 Virgin Islands Territorial Coral Reef Monitoring Program (TCRMP)'s permanent monitoring sites to study variation in sponge communities in St. Thomas (Fig. 1b). These sites included Black Point (N 18° 20.665′, W 64° 59.107′), Coculus Rock (N 18° 18.734′, W 64° 51.613′), and Magens Bay (N 18° 22.459′, W 64° 56.077′), which are in embayments with heavily developed watersheds. Buck Island (N 18° 16.717′, W 64° 53.925′) and Savana Island (N 18° 20.437′, W 65° 04.939′) are located near undeveloped ...
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... was a significant effect of the hurricanes on percent cover of sponges (Fig. 2a, Table 1). Sponge cover declined by an average of 24.9 ± 12.9% after the 2017 hurricanes, following a negligible increase of 7.6 ± 8.9% from 2015 to 2016 across all sites. In contrast, sponge density increased by an average of 43.9 ± 7.7% across all sites from 2015 to 2016 but did not change significantly post-hurricanes (− 8.5 ± 7.4%; Fig. 2b, ...
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... from 2015 to 2016 across all sites. In contrast, sponge density increased by an average of 43.9 ± 7.7% across all sites from 2015 to 2016 but did not change significantly post-hurricanes (− 8.5 ± 7.4%; Fig. 2b, Table 1). RM-ANOVA did not show significant temporal changes in sponge volume, likely due to high variability among individual quadrats (Fig. 2c, Table ...
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... with an increase of 16.6 ± 4.6% from 2015 to 2016 and 29.1 ± 6.4% from 2015 to 2017, although the increase following the hurricanes was not statistically significant (12.4 ± 5.9%; Fig. 3a, Table 1, Online Resource 3). Shannon index for sponges remained virtually unchanged between 2015 and 2016 but increased significantly post-hurricanes (Fig. 3b, Table 1). RM-ANOVA did not identify temporal changes in the inverse Simpson index for sponges, although there was a slight increase post storms (Fig. 3c, Table ...
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... significant (12.4 ± 5.9%; Fig. 3a, Table 1, Online Resource 3). Shannon index for sponges remained virtually unchanged between 2015 and 2016 but increased significantly post-hurricanes (Fig. 3b, Table 1). RM-ANOVA did not identify temporal changes in the inverse Simpson index for sponges, although there was a slight increase post storms (Fig. 3c, Table ...
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... the sites in this study had low proportions of excavating and massive sponges, and there was no effect of year on these morphological categories (Fig. 4, Table 1). Encrusting sponges represented the highest proportion of the sponge community at all sites, and after remaining relatively stable from 2015 to 2016, this proportion increased significantly (+ 24.4 ± 9.8%) following the hurricanes in 2017 (Fig. 4, Table 1, Online Resource 3). In contrast, there was a significant decline in the ...
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... and massive sponges, and there was no effect of year on these morphological categories (Fig. 4, Table 1). Encrusting sponges represented the highest proportion of the sponge community at all sites, and after remaining relatively stable from 2015 to 2016, this proportion increased significantly (+ 24.4 ± 9.8%) following the hurricanes in 2017 (Fig. 4, Table 1, Online Resource 3). In contrast, there was a significant decline in the proportion of upright sponges after the hurricanes (− 36.9 ± 8.8%; Fig. 4 ...
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... there was a significant effect of the hurricanes on percent cover of sponges, percent cover of other benthic community constituents showed variable responses to the hurricanes. Coral cover did not differ significantly across years (Fig. 5a, Table 1), although there was high variability among transects. However, while differences may have been relatively small, coral cover averaged 9.4 ± 1.4% across all sites pre storms and 7.8 ± 1.3% post storms. This absolute loss of 1.6% represents a 17.8 ± 6.7% decline in coral cover across all transects following the hurricanes. There was ...
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... differences may have been relatively small, coral cover averaged 9.4 ± 1.4% across all sites pre storms and 7.8 ± 1.3% post storms. This absolute loss of 1.6% represents a 17.8 ± 6.7% decline in coral cover across all transects following the hurricanes. There was also no significant effect of the hurricanes on macroalgal cover at our study sites (Fig. 5b, Table 1). RM-ANOVA showed a significant effect of year on percent cover of EAC and non-living substrata, but these were due to increased cover of EAC and decreased cover of non-living substrata from 2015 to 2016, while there was no significant effect of the hurricanes on either of these parameters (Fig. 5c, d, Table ...
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... Studies on Hurricane Irma's impact show decreased sponge and hydrocoral cover, reduced habitat complexity, and increased encrusting sponge cover throughout the Caribbean region (Gochfeld et al., 2020;Kobelt et al., 2019). Caribbean reefs, already degraded by previous hurricanes, are more resilient to new disturbances (Edmunds, 2019;Mudge & Bruno, 2021). ...
... Coral reef monitoring following the passage of Hurricanes Irma and Maria revealed a significant decrease in sponge and hydrocoral cover in the Florida Keys (Kobelt et al., 2019), and a shift from upright sponges (-36.9%) to encrusting sponges (+24.9%) in the U.S. Virgin Islands (Gochfeld et al., 2020). Hurricane Irma also significantly reduced the density of D. antillarum, possibly due to the abrasion and burial by sediment transport (Kobelt et al., 2019). ...
... The total fish biomass was higher after the hurricane, driven by biomass of snappers and groupers. Many studies monitoring the impact of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in the following months and years found a decrease in upright sponges and hydrocorals, a reduction in habitat structure complexity, and an increased cover of encrusting sponges (Adam et al., 2014;Gochfeld et al., 2020;Kobelt et al., 2019). In the Florida Keys, sediment resuspension and deposition were correlated with a decrease in Diadema urchin density and size (Kobelt et al., 2019 Although reef fishes are unlikely to move to reefs on the other side of the island, larger predatory fish have greater home ranges and will benefit the ecosystems on both sides. ...
... from disturbances due to the dependence of many coral reef fishes on reef structure and the slow growth rate of these coral habitats (Sale 1977, Emslie et al. 2008, Graham et al. 2009). To improve the management of these fragile ecosystems, recent efforts have focused on ecosystem health assessments and wide-scale monitoring (Sale 1977, Gochfeld et al. 2020. However, healthy reef fish populations naturally fluctuate over time due to a host of factors including recruitment variations, changes in environmental conditions, and availability of desirable habitat Beets 2001, Graham et al. 2009). ...
The United States Virgin Island’s (USVI) coral reefs support many economically and ecologically important fish species. Located in the Caribbean Sea, they are subject to frequent severe weather disturbances, including two category 5 hurricanes, Irma and Maria, in 2017. The overarching goal of this study was to identify reef fish community impacts following these extreme events using discontinuous survey indices. Long-term (2001–2021), in situ, fishery-independent survey data using two methods were standardized to the extent possible in two regions of the USVI, St. Thomas/St. John (STT/STJ) and St. Croix (STX). Comparable data were assessed, 73 species collected on hard-bottom habitat, to identify the number of these species with significant changes in density and/or mean length between two-year survey intervals over the historic baseline (2001–2015), disturbance (2017–2019), and post-disturbance (2019–2021) periods. The results varied by region: STT/STJ had no disturbance impact and STX had a significant disturbance impact. In STX, 20 species had significant changes in density in the disturbance period compared to an average of 9.7 (SD 3.8) species for the baseline period. The proportion of species with significant density increases and decreases were similar suggesting that overall disturbance impacts are nuanced. Mean length observations were less informative, likely due to survey method and sample size changes. However, in combination with density they provided useful insights into the possible causes of population change. The successful use of discontinuous survey indices to obtain meaningful biological insights has broader applications to ecosystem and fishery datasets with similar limitations.
... To date, studies of storm impacts have largely focused on scleractinian corals (Edmunds, 2019;Gardner et al., 2005;Gouezo et al., 2015;Harmelin-Vivien, 1994;Madin et al., 2012;Massel & Done, 1993), with fewer evaluating impacts on other benthic organisms, such as sponges or octocorals (Álvarez-Filip & Gil, 2006;Easson et al., 2013;Gochfeld et al., 2020;Lasker et al., 2020;Wulff, 1995). These reports suggest that powerful storms reduced sponge (phylum Porifera) species richness and biomass (Álvarez-Filip & Gil, 2006;Easson et al., 2013;Edmunds et al., 2020;Gochfeld et al., 2020;Wulff, 1995). ...
... To date, studies of storm impacts have largely focused on scleractinian corals (Edmunds, 2019;Gardner et al., 2005;Gouezo et al., 2015;Harmelin-Vivien, 1994;Madin et al., 2012;Massel & Done, 1993), with fewer evaluating impacts on other benthic organisms, such as sponges or octocorals (Álvarez-Filip & Gil, 2006;Easson et al., 2013;Gochfeld et al., 2020;Lasker et al., 2020;Wulff, 1995). These reports suggest that powerful storms reduced sponge (phylum Porifera) species richness and biomass (Álvarez-Filip & Gil, 2006;Easson et al., 2013;Edmunds et al., 2020;Gochfeld et al., 2020;Wulff, 1995). Wulff (1995) reported that losses of Caribbean coral reef sponges due to Hurricane Joan in 1998 were dramatic, reducing combined density of the three most common species by nearly half (Wulff, 1995), whereas Easson et al. (2013) found through the monitoring of sponge individuals that A. cauliformis populations were reduced by ~20% following Hurricane Irene. ...
... In September 2017, the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) were directly impacted by two Category 5 hurricanes (wind speeds >252 km h −1 ), Irma and Maria, in rapid succession, an unprecedented event that left behind widespread catastrophic damage. The significant wave action from multiple directions affected marine ecosystems throughout the USVI and the eastern Caribbean region, resulting in a 25% decline of key benthic coral reef species, significantly decreasing the sponge cover, and changing the composition of sponge communities in St. Thomas (Gochfeld et al., 2020). The resilience of sponges to disturbance is critical for maintaining the structure and function of Caribbean coral reef communities (Diaz & Rützler, 2001;van Soest et al., 2012;Wulff, 2012), as sponges contribute to primary production, nutrient cycling, and bentho-pelagic coupling; help to consolidate and bioerode reef substrata; and serve as habitat and food for other reef organisms (Bell et al., 2013;De Goeij et al., 2013;Diaz & Rützler, 2001;Wulff, 2012). ...
Upright branching sponges, such as Aplysina cauliformis , provide critical three‐dimensional habitat for other organisms and assist in stabilizing coral reef substrata, but are highly susceptible to breakage during storms. Breakage can increase sponge fragmentation, contributing to population clonality and inbreeding. Conversely, storms could provide opportunities for new genotypes to enter populations via larval recruitment, resulting in greater genetic diversity in locations with frequent storms. The unprecedented occurrence of two Category 5 hurricanes in close succession during 2017 in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) provided a unique opportunity to evaluate whether recolonization of newly available substrata on coral reefs was due to local (e.g. re‐growth of remnants, fragmentation, larval recruitment) or remote (e.g. larval transport and immigration) sponge genotypes. We sampled A. cauliformis adults and juveniles from four reefs around St. Thomas and two in St. Croix (USVI). Using a 2bRAD protocol, all samples were genotyped for single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Results showed that these major storm events favoured sponge larval recruitment but did not increase the genetic diversity of A. cauliformis populations. Recolonization of substratum post‐storms via clonality was lower (15%) than expected and instead was mainly due to sexual reproduction (85%) via local larval recruitment. Storms did enhance gene flow among and within reef sites located south of St. Thomas and north of St. Croix. Therefore, populations of clonal marine species with low pelagic dispersion, such as A. cauliformis , may benefit from increased frequency and magnitude of hurricanes for the maintenance of genetic diversity and to combat inbreeding, enhancing the resilience of Caribbean sponge communities to extreme storm events.
... With the increasing frequency of coral bleaching events, sponges may dominate future coral reefs (Bell et al. 2013;Coppock et al. 2022;DeBiasse et al. 2022;Munday 2004;Pawlik et al. 2018). However, just like corals, sponges have heat tolerance limitations, and sponge community composition shifts under climate change scenarios, which triggers changes in their associated macrofauna (Bell et al. 2013(Bell et al. , 2015DeBiasse et al. 2022;Gochfeld et al. 2020). Given the strong specificity of some Risor lineages for certain sponges, these changes may reshuffle and/or extirpate Risor communities and lead to the disappearance of some genetic lineages if their sponge hosts become scarce. ...
Coral reefs harbor 30% of oceanic biodiversity, but many species remain undiscovered. Indeed, coral reef taxonomic inventories are heavily skewed toward large, conspicuous organisms, leaving numerous smaller, cryptic species undescribed. Cryptobenthic reef fishes, such as gobies, can speciate rapidly due to short lifespans and limited dispersal, and ecological specialization may facilitate their diversification. Here, we examine whether habitat specialization correlates with genetic and phenotypic divergence in Risor ruber, a sponge-dwelling goby distributed across the western Atlantic Ocean. By integrating phylogenetic evidence, morphometrics, and network analysis, we identify seven distinct genetic lineages within Risor and reveal concordant patterns of Risor–sponge specialization. Despite the absence of lineage-specific morphologies, morphological traits are associated with sponge hosts, indicating high phenotypic plasticity within lineages. Two Risor lineages specialize on a single host sponge across the Caribbean, while five lineages are generalists. Finally, high modularity across Risor–sponge networks provides further evidence that ecological specialization contributes to Risor diversification. Given the rapid changes in coral reef benthic communities, habitat specialists are more likely to lose their primary habitat and face extinction. Documenting and understanding genetic diversification is imperative, especially in understudied, vulnerable organisms such as cryptobenthic reef fishes.
... Most of the sponge mortality was attributed to sediment bedload, abrasion, and burial from hurricane-generated rubble. A comparison with the impacts of Hurricanes Irma and María in St. Thomas, USVI, revealed a 37% decline in upright sponges and a 24% increase in encrusting sponges, highlighting the trait-specific nature of damage inflicted by wave action in sponge communities [94]. ...
... Such a decline in PAR, coinciding with a low Kd490, may explain subsequent observations of blooming macroalgae and cyanobacteria. Large reductions in underwater irradiation have adverse implications for photosynthetic taxa, but through the turbidity that reduces underwater light, they promote population growth by suspension feeding invertebrates, including encrusting sponges, which might explain subsequent findings at St. Thomas [94]. Declining dissolved oxygen concentrations can also be deleterious for coral reef ecosystems [11]. ...
An increasing sea surface temperature as a result of climate change has led to a higher frequency and strengthening of hurricanes across the northeastern Caribbean in recent decades, with increasing risks of impacts to endangered corals and to the sustainability of coral reefs. Category five Hurricanes Irma and María during 2017 caused unprecedented damage to coral reef ecosystems across northeastern Puerto Rico, including mechanical destruction, localized sediment bedload (horizontal sediment transport and abrasion), and burial by hurricane-generated rubble fields. Hurricanes inflicted significant site-, depth-, and life history trait-specific impacts to endangered corals, with substantial and widespread mechanical damage to branching species, moderate mechanical damage to foliose species, and moderate to high localized damage to small-sized encrusting and massive morphotypes due to sediment bedload and burial by rubble. There was a mean 35% decline in Acropora palmata live cover, 79% in A. cervicornis, 12% in Orbicella annularis, 7% in O. faveolata, 12% in O. franksi, and 96% in Dendrogyra cylindrus. Hurricane disturbances resulted in a major regime shift favoring dominance by macroalgae, algal turf, and cyanobacteria. Recovery from coral recruitment or fragment reattachment in A. palmata was significantly higher on more distant coral reefs, but there was none for massive endangered species. Stronger hurricanes under projected climate change may represent a major threat to the conservation of endangered coral species and reef sustainability which will require enhancing coral propagation and restoration strategies, and the integration of adaptive, ecosystem-based management approaches. Recommendations are discussed to enhance redundancy, rapid restoration responses, and conservation-oriented strategies.
... Recurrent category 5 hurricanes such as Irma and Maria produced devastating effects on reefs in various countries of the region (e.g. Florida, Puerto Rico, the West Indies and the USVI) (Rousseau et al. 2010, Gochfeld et al. 2020, Madden et al. 2023). In the Dominican Republic, Croquer et al. (2022b), Steneck and Torres (2023) and Sellares-Blasco et al. (2023) have identified hurricanes as a significant threat and one of the underlying drivers of rapid coral reef decline in Montecristi and the Silver Bank. ...
Permanent monitoring programs are valuable to identify drivers of ecosystem trends. For example, in 2021, we reported the first record of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (sctld) along the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, affecting major reef—building coral species with a prevalence above 30%. However, a few sites such as Carenero remained unaffected by sctld for almost 2 years. The average coral cover in this site was about 18—25% (mean 18.3% ± sd 1.5), and disease prevalence did not exceed 7% in the coral community. During the first quarter of 2022, a few colonies (<1%) of Montastraea covernosa, Pseudodiploria strigosa and Colpophyllia natans started to show macroscopic signs of sctld and between April and September of that year, average prevalence of sctld increased 4—fold. In September 2022, Hurricane Fiona affected the Dominican Republic, hitting the island’s eastern coast and moving northwest. Coral diseases such as sctld and Caribbean Yellow Band Disease (CYBD) increased in prevalence, reaching up to 36% among the top 5 coral reef—building species and the average of dead colonies reached 43%. We recorded a 3—fold reduction of average live coral cover (77% lost) by the end of 2022, with Orbicella faveolata, M. covernosa, C. natans and P. strigosa the most affected species. Furthermore, Fiona lifted and turned upside down large O. faveolata colonies, particularly in the reef flat, and severely affected a large thicket of Acropora cervicornis. Results highlights the value of recurrent and permanent monitoring programs to identify stressors affecting coral reefs.
... Both sponges and zoanthids are vulnerable to abrupt environmental impacts like storms, yet they can recover quickly in healthy reef ecosystems (Gochfeld et al. 2020, Singh et al. 2022. More developed juveniles who selectively feed on these prey types may display altered isotopic signatures during the recovery period. ...
Studying how species interact with their environment and other co-occurring species are 2 main aspects of ecology. For marine turtles, ocean currents drive migratory routes and may determine the location of surrounding foraging grounds. As a result, circumglobal species like the hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata and green turtle Chelonia mydas adapt to diverse foraging habitats and employ varied feeding strategies. Dietary specializations may reduce competition for available food and space resources between co-occurring hawksbill and green turtles in US Virgin Island shallow reef habitats. This study analyzed isotopic data from immature hawksbill (n = 49; range: 18.7-49.8 cm straight carapace length [SCL]) and green turtles (n = 225; range: 24.1-69.4 cm SCL) to examine foraging niche. We used nitrogen stable isotope (δ ¹⁵ N) values as an indicator of trophic positioning and carbon stable isotope (δ ¹³ C) values as a habitat variable. Turtles were hand-captured across an 8 yr period (2012-2019), which facilitated the distinction of isotopic patterns in both the environment and among individual turtles. Understanding variations in habitat, community dynamics, and dietary consumption allowed us to utilize a 5 point framework to translate isotopic space to foraging niche. We found that the site’s relatively stable environmental conditions allow for isotopic overlap between hawksbill and green turtles despite the specialized feeding strategies each species employs. We also underscore the need to evaluate species-specific tissue turnover estimates as evidenced by the influence of tropical storms on recaptured turtle isotopic signatures. These findings inform our understanding of resource use for these imperiled species at our study site and are useful for future global isotopic comparisons.
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The US Caribbean comprises Puerto Rico (PR) and the US Virgin Islands (USVI). Both are US territories, and people born there acquire US citizenship by birth. The USVI is home to about 87,000 US citizens. The USVI has a majority Black population and a mix of English-, Spanish-, and Creole-speaking communities. Puerto Rico (which includes the inhabited islands of Vieques and Culebra) has a population of around 3 million US citizens who are predominantly Hispanic- or Latino-Spanish speakers. Communities in both territories are now the source of significant migration to the US mainland. Hurricanes, increasingly powerful storms, and rising sea levels are already harming human health, ecosystems, water and food supplies, and critical infrastructure in the US Caribbean, with underserved communities suffering disproportionate impacts. Effective adaptation to support resilience in the region could be enhanced by decentralization, shared governance, and stronger partnerships across the Caribbean region and the US mainland.
... Like other sessile organisms, marine sponges (phylum Porifera), are also exposed to a great variety of natural and anthropogenic disturbances that can negatively affect their populations (Wulff, 2006;Cebrian et al., 2011;Tjensvoll et al., 2013;Di Camillo and Cerrano, 2015;Elvin et al., 2018;Gochfeld et al., 2020). Among factors associated with sponge mass mortalities are included: unusual temperatures (Laboy-Nieves et al., 2001;Ereskovsky et al., 2019), low levels of dissolved oxygen and salinity at the bottom-water interface, lower than normal surficial current speeds (Stachowitsch, 1984;Laboy-Nieves et al., 2001), diseases (Maldonado et al., 2010;Stevely et al., 2011;Cebrian et al., 2011;Di Camillo et al., 2013;Di Camillo and Cerrano, 2015), hurricanes (Fenner, 1991;Gochfeld et al., 2020;Grech et al., 2020) and tsunamis (Elvin et al., 2018). ...
... Like other sessile organisms, marine sponges (phylum Porifera), are also exposed to a great variety of natural and anthropogenic disturbances that can negatively affect their populations (Wulff, 2006;Cebrian et al., 2011;Tjensvoll et al., 2013;Di Camillo and Cerrano, 2015;Elvin et al., 2018;Gochfeld et al., 2020). Among factors associated with sponge mass mortalities are included: unusual temperatures (Laboy-Nieves et al., 2001;Ereskovsky et al., 2019), low levels of dissolved oxygen and salinity at the bottom-water interface, lower than normal surficial current speeds (Stachowitsch, 1984;Laboy-Nieves et al., 2001), diseases (Maldonado et al., 2010;Stevely et al., 2011;Cebrian et al., 2011;Di Camillo et al., 2013;Di Camillo and Cerrano, 2015), hurricanes (Fenner, 1991;Gochfeld et al., 2020;Grech et al., 2020) and tsunamis (Elvin et al., 2018). These stochastic events generally occur in a short period and in specific regions. ...
Remnants of marine invertebrates are common in the wrack line of the coasts of many regions worldwide. However, little is known about its spatial and temporal variation. This study aimed to investigate the inter-site and intra-annual variability in species composition, abundance, and biomass of sponge strandings on the coast of a southern Gulf of Mexico tropical island. The environmental factors (oceanographic and meteorological) influencing such spatio-temporal variations on abundance and biomass of sponge strandings were also investigated. From a total of 21 demosponge species identified, three species of genus Clathria (with erect growth forms and a small basal area) were dominant in terms of abundance (93%) and biomass (89%). Both, the monthly average abundance and biomass varied significantly throughout the year, with maximum peaks during the cold fronts season. Only in the case of abundance, a combination of four predictor variables (wind speed, wave height, frequency of southeast winds, and frequency of north winds) explained 84.2% of its intra-annual variability. Results also showed that cold fronts (especially the stronger ones), aside from cyclonic events, can act as disruptive events regulating sponge populations in the coastal zone. Regarding the spatial variability, it was attributed to inter-site differences in the degree of exposure to hydrodynamic forces and the type of substrate. This study contributes to the knowledge of the biodiversity of sponge species in this coastal region of the Gulf of Mexico and demonstrates that large-scale seasonal events such as cold fronts can influence their temporal dynamics.
