Population dynamics of natural colonies of Aurelia sp. scyphistomae in Tasmania, Australia
By S. Willcox, N. Moltschaniwskyj, C. Crawford. 2008
88 citations recorded by the source corpus.
The aim of this study was to identify potential environmental controls of the asexual phases of reproduction by measuring the rates of asexual reproduction (budding and strobilation) and mortality in naturally occurring populations of Aurelia sp. scyphistomae at different spatial and temporal scales. The percentage cover, density of colonies of Aurelia sp. scyphistomae, and density of the population of two naturally occurring colonies of Aurelia sp. scyphistomae were examined over 2 years in southern Tasmania. Artificial substrates were also deployed to investigate colony dynamics when density dependent effects were reduced. Clear spatial and temporal differences in the population dynamics of the colonies were observed. Density dependent effects controlled budding and recruitment of new scyphistomae to the substrate when populations were dense and space limiting. In contrast, environmental controls of budding and strobilation were more apparent in a colony with significantly greater area of bare substrate and hence room for expansion. Water temperature and rainfall (as a proxy for salinity) were linked to changes in population size. Annual and seasonal differences in population dynamics were not observed in a colony limited by space but were apparent in a colony where space was not limited. When space was removed as a limiting factor by deploying artificial substrates, a seasonal environmental effect on the rate of growth of the colony was observed. These studies suggest that the growth, survival and reproduction of the sessile colonial phase of Aurelia sp. is regulated by a combination of density dependent factors and environmental conditions, which are consequently important to the formation of jellyfish blooms.
Subfields: Environmental Chemistry, Paleontology, Pharmacology
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3c295a67648bc7b0f77ab065f8f7d8b391fa747c
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In Environmental Chemistry
In Paleontology
Citations in the corpus
- DNA Barcoding the Medusozoa using mtCOI (2010, background): “Phenotypic plasticity in size and shape of hydropolyps (e.g. Schuchert, 2001) and scyphistomae (Willcox et al., 2008) as well as morphological divergence associated with geographic distance (Bolton and Graham, 2004) can render morphological characters ambiguous.”
- Combined effects of food supply and temperature on asexual reproduction and somatic growth of polyps of the common jellyfish Aurelia aurita s.l. (2010, background): “…site, space competition with benthic organisms, predators, etc. (Watanabe & Ishii 2001, Miyake et al. 2002, Purcell 2007, Purcell et al. 2009, Willcox et al. 2008), we suggest that at least two other factors, viz. global warming and cultural eutrophication, can be responsible for the…”
- Have jellyfish in the Irish Sea benefited from climate change and overfishing? (2011, background): “Precipitation effects on jellyfish have been considered in this way previously by Wilcox et al. (2008) and Purcell et al. (2009).”
- Interannual variation of strobilation by the scyphozoan Aurelia labiata in relation to polyp density, temperature, salinity, and light conditions in situ (2009, background): “Strobilation by Aurelia sp. began at the end of the annual low temperature period at ~10.5°C in Tasmania (Willcox et al. 2008).”