Moisés Andres Aguilera

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez · Facultad de Artes Liberales

Urbanization is altering community structure and functioning in marine ecosystems, but knowledge about the mechanisms driving loss of species diversity is still limited. Here, we examine rock thermal patterns in artificial breakwaters and test whether they have higher and spatially less variable rock temperature than natural adjacent habitats, whic...

Ongoing climate change is shifting the geographic distributions of some species, potentially imposing rapid changes in local community structure and ecosystem functioning. Besides changes in population level inter‐specific interactions, such range shifts may also cause changes in functional structure within the host assemblages, which can result in...

Coastal infrastructures are increasing at different latitudes, and their deployment often results in a complete replacement of natural habitats. Although infrastructure provides novel habitats, ecological engineering can increase their similarity to natural rocky habitats. One hurdle for effective design of greener infrastructure is the scarce info...

Urban infrastructures can provide ‘novel’ habitats for marine and terrestrial animals and plants, enhancing their ability to adapt to urban environments. In particular, coastal infrastructures characterized by a complex three-dimensional morphology, such as breakwaters, could provide species refuges and food. We investigated the role of breakwaters...

Breakwater construction is common on different coasts, and by means of their structural complexity these built infrastructures can trap anthropogenic litter. We investigated the temporal persistence of anthropogenic litter in breakwaters, and how fast litter accumulates on them. We sampled anthropogenic litter in old (>10 years since construction)...

Ports are expanding urban systems worldwide because provide important economic benefits to local economies. But port land reclamation together with infrastructure deployment and operations, produce unprecedented pressure on surrounding coastal ecosystems. Thus, the implementation of effective management strategies to deal with social-environmental...

Urbanization is provoking habitat loss and fragmentation, driving rapid landscape transformation worldwide. Remnant habitats in urban areas can be especially prone to degradation by human activities at short time scales, and poor planning during urban expansion can erode their structural and functional connectivity. Foredunes in particular are thre...

Non-indigenous species (NIS) can invade marine ecosystems worldwide not only because of higher growth rates and reproductive potential but also due to their ability to escape from native consumers either by defensive traits or by the colonization of spatial refuges. Spatial consumption refuges can be present in tidepools, especially in those from t...

Urbanization can drive significant decay in species diversity and abundance; in dune ecosystems the composition changes at a pace with changes in spatial fragmentation. Infrastructure deployment and human activities may provoke synergistically a reduction in dune patch size and/or habitat loss and thus a potential for rapid establishment of exotic...

Biotic interactions can determine species distributions and range limits, but little theoretical background exists regarding variation in commensalistic associations across latitudes. We estimated the geographic variation of the epibiont limpet Scurria parasitica ’s association with its obligate host chiton species Enoplochiton niger across their d...

Improving our understanding of stability across spatial scales is crucial in the current scenario of biodiversity loss. Still, most empirical studies of stability target small scales. We experimentally removed the local space‐dominant species (macroalgae, barnacles, or mussels) at eight sites spanning more than 1000 km of coastline in north‐ and so...

Aim To evaluate the latitudinal pattern of body size within and among chiton species employing phylogenetically structured analyses and examine the role ofgeographical variation in temperature, productivity and oxygen availability as potential environmental drivers. Location Coastal habitats of the south-eastern Pacific along a latitudinal range o...

Stability is a central property of complex systems and encompasses multiple dimensions such as resistance, resilience, recovery, and invariability. How these dimensions correlate among them is focus of recent ecological research, but empirical evidence at regional scales, at which conservation decisions are usually made, remains absent. Using a fie...

Stability is a central property of complex systems and encompasses multiple dimensions such as resistance, resilience, recovery, and invariability. How these dimensions correlate among them is focus of recent ecological research; yet, empirical evidence at regional scales, at which conservation decisions are usually made, remains absent. Using a fi...

These photographs illustrate the article, “Novel co-occurrence of functionally redundant consumers induced by range expansion alters community structure” by Moisés A. Aguilera, Nelson Valdivia, Bernardo R. Broitman, Stuart Jenkins, and Sergio A. Navarrete published in Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3150. Climate change is shifting species di...

Abstract Aim: Topographic complexity is widely accepted as a key driver of biodiversity, but at the patch-scale, complexity–biodiversity relationships may vary spatially and temporally according to the environmental stressors complexity mitigates, and the species richness and identity of potential colonists. Using a manipulative experiment, we asse...

Ongoing climate change is shifting the geographic distributions of some species, potentially imposing rapid changes in local community structure and ecosystem functioning. Besides changes in population-level interspecific interactions, such range shifts may also cause changes in functional structure within the host assemblages, which can result in...

Supplementary Information Article: "Loss of coastal ecosystem spatial connectivity and services by urbanization: natural-to-urban integration for bay management"

Supplementary Information; Novel co-occurrences of functionally equivalent consumer species by range expansion result in alteration of community structure in a rocky intertidal system. Ecology.

Interactions in the Marine Benthos - edited by Stephen J. Hawkins August 2019

Many marine gastropods show species-specific behavioral responses to different predators, but less is known about the mechanisms influencing differences or similarities in specific responses. Herein, we examined whether two limpet species, Scurria viridula (Lamarck, 1819) and Fissurella latimarginata (Sowerby, 1835), show species- and size-specific...

1.Biotic interactions are central to the development of theory and concepts in community ecology; experimental evidence has shown their strong effects on patterns of population and community organization and dynamics over local spatial scales. The role of competition in determining range limits and preventing invasions at biogeographic scales is mo...

Ecological manipulative experiments conducted in marine coastal ecosystems have substantially improved ecological theory during the last decades and have provided useful knowledge for the management and conservation of coastal ecosystems. Although different studies report global trends in ecological patterns worldwide, Southeastern Pacific coastal...

Aim To examine the role of ocean temperature and chemistry as drivers of interpopulation differences in multiple phenotypic traits between rear and leading edge populations of two species of limpet. Location The coast of north‐central Chile, western South America. Taxon Mollusca, Gastropoda (Lottidae). Methods We used field and laboratory experi...

In both sedimentary and rocky coastal habitats, epibenthic mytilid mussels use byssal threads for attachment to the substratum and to form beds with high densities of individuals. Number and attachment strength of byssal threads can be adjusted according to external factors such as hydrodynamic forces or predators, but it is unknown whether mytilid...

Many coastal habitats are actually replaced with hard infrastructures which alter the taxonomic/functional structure of natural ecosystems worldwide. Few information about habitat loss and species composition in South American coasts are available compared with other coasts. Here, I examine the distribution and identity of coastal artificial infras...

Functional diversity is intimately linked with community assembly processes, but its large-scale patterns of variation are often not well understood. Here, we investigated the spatiotemporal changes in multiple trait dimensions (“trait space”) along vertical intertidal environmental stress gradients and across a landscape scale. We predicted that t...

Intertidal kelps like Lessonia spicata (Laminariales) dominate low intertidal habitats, where they coexist with morphologically diverse coralline seaweeds. We show that crustose and articulated coralline algae have contrasting effects on the settlement and recruitment of this kelp species. Crustose coralline algae significantly inhibited the settle...

Understanding the impacts of consumers on the abundance, growth rate, recovery and persistence of their resources across their distributional range can shed light on the role of trophic interactions in determining species range shifts. Here, we examined if consumptive effects of the intertidal grazer Scurria viridula positively influences the abund...

Environment-driven variation in the supply of individuals to local assemblages can determine patterns of community structure. Alternatively, local environmental conditions can determine the type of species that can be successfully established in a given community. Most communities are probably found somewhere between these 2 extremes, but few studi...

There is a general consensus that marine herbivores can affect algal species composition and abundance, but little empirical work exists on the role of herbivores as modifiers of the spatial structure of resource assemblages. Here, we test the consumption/bulldozing effects of the molluscan grazer Enoplochiton niger and its influence on the spatial...

Understanding the ecological factors regulating exploited natural communities is important in establishing conservation and management strategies. Since the 1960s, artisanal fishermen have harvested up to 300 000 dry tons yr(-1) of wild populations of Lessonia spp. kelps. Adult kelps form a key habitat on the rocky shores of Chile, and benthic graz...

Species-specific traits are relevant to understand variation in the effect of grazers on primary producers and are critical in determining their functional roles as controllers of productivity in marine ecosystems. In intertidal habitats, periphyton, composed of bacteria, cyanophytes, microalgae and early stages of macroalgae, constitutes the main...

Examining the co-occurrence of taxonomically similar species can provide important information about their niches and coexistence. Segregation at smaller scales can be especially relevant for grazers living at the edge of their geographic distribution, because environmental factors can lead to similar distribution. Related grazer species may show d...

Experiments have shown that interspecific interactions within consumer guilds can alter patterns of distribution, abundance and size of species. Plastic behavioural responses can be modulated by agonistic interactions. In many cases, consumers compete for space and shelters, and these interactions change the manner in which they exploit food. This...

Diel activity rhythms of focal grazers. Average (± SE) percentage active individuals found to be active during (a, b) laboratory experiments (i.e. inside cement blocks) and during (c, d) field experiments at day (white bars) and night (black bars). Key for treatments: laboratory: C: 3 Chiton granosus, Cx2: 6 C. granosus, S: 9S. lessoni; Sx2: 18 S....

Estimation of individual traits of Siphonaria lessoni inside and outside the marine reserve. Frequency histogram of shell size (mm) and wet weight (g) of the species Siphonaria lessoni recorded inside human protected marine reserve at ECIM, and in open access platforms at the locality of Pelancura distant aprox. 8 km south the marine reserve. Arrow...

Algal abundance inside experimental areas. Average (± SE) percent cover of the main algal groups recorded with 25×25 cm quadrat inside experimental enclosures (field experiments) through five month of study. Key for treatments: Monocultures: F: 2 F. crassa, Fx2: 4 F. crassa, S: 6 S. lessoni, Sx2: 12 S. lessoni. Mixture treatment: S+F: 6 S. lessoni...

Despite the great interest in characterizing the functional structure and resilience of functional groups in natural communities, few studies have examined in which way the roles and relationships of coexisting species change during community succession, a fundamental and natural process that follows the release of new resources in terrestrial and...

In consumer assemblages, the organization of individual foraging behavior, as well as spatial distribution, can largely determine environmental risks, and the intensity of intra-and interspecific interactions. We characterized distributional and behavioral patterns of the most common benthic grazers coexisting in the rocky shores of central Chile:...

This paper reviews recent knowledge about the functional roles that herbivores have in intertidal communities in Chile. Specifically, I review field and laboratory studies dealing with the food preferences of herbivores, the responses of algae to herbivore attacks and reports of negative and positive functional effects of herbivores on algal popula...

This paper reviews recent knowledge about the functional roles that herbivores have in intertidal communities in Chile. Specifically, I review field and laboratory studies dealing with the food preferences of herbivores, the responses of algae to herbivore attacks and reports of negative and positive functional effects of herbivores on algal popula...

Molluscan grazers can have important effects on the abundance, colonization rates, and successional pathways of algal assemblages and the entire intertidal community. In general, early successional algae are more readily consumed than corticated algae and kelps, which usually get established later in the community succession. To generalize, however...

Information is presented on taxonomic traits of Callistochiton pulchellus (Gray, 1828) collected at thirteen sites between Iquique (20°12'S-70°09'W) and Pabellón de Pica (20°54'S-70°08'W) in the north of Chile. Sampling sites were at least one km apart. The species was found at only three of the thirteen sampling sites (23%), and only underneath bo...

Preliminary quantitative information is given on the presence of barnacle cyprids and post-metamorphic stages in the diet of the molluscan grazer Chiton granosus Frembly 1827 (Mollusca: Placophora) sampled at Iquique, Chile. In December 2000, we observed the presence of barnacle cyprids and post-metamorphic stages at a high relative percentage of a...

Preliminary quantitative information is given on the presence of barnacle cyprids and post-metamorphic stages in the diet of the molluscan grazer Chiton granosus Frembly 1827 (Mollusca: Placophora) sampled at Iquique, Chile. In December 2000, we observed the presence of barnacle cyprids and post-metamorphic stages at a high relative percentage of a...