Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
With only a narrow opening through the Gibraltar and Suez Canals, the Mediterranean Sea is one of thelargest semi-enclosed seas. The marine flora and fauna are some of the richest in the world, relative to itssize, particularly in the coastal habitats, which are also characterized by numerous endemic speciesalthough the introduction of non-indigenous species threatens its rich and unique biodiversity. Followingthe opening of the Suez Canal, and in combination with shipping and aquaculture activities, nonindigenousspecies (NIS) introduction has had measurable impacts on the Mediterranean. Lagoon ecosystemsalong the French coastline, with approx. 100 NIS identified, are considered hot-spot areas forthese species. Rapid assessment sampling for sessile benthic species together with DNA barcoding is arapid, easy and cheap method to detect non-indigenous species. Two nearby and different ecosystemswere sampled for invertebrate species: Saint-Nazaire lagoon, a Special Protection Area within the Natura2000 Network and Canet port, a marina in a small village. The DNA barcoding tool for species identificationwas used for confirming the taxonomy. This showed that, despite the Saint-Nazaire Lagoonclassification within the Natura 2000 network, it is already contaminated with a single NIS that wasfound in high densities and is clearly beginning to dominate the system. It is proposed that a rapidassessment of the sampled environment and the DNA barcode approach are efficient and can providesufficient information on the new target species to be used in conservation planning and ongoingmanagement efforts.
ISSN: 0272-7714

hal-01488926
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01488926
DOI : 10.1016/j.ecss.2017.02.004

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Over the last few decades, sessile benthic organisms from the Mediterranean Sea have suffered from the global warming of the world's oceans, and several mass mortality events were observed during warm summers. It has been hypothesized that mortality could have been due to a nutrient (food) shortage following the stratification of the water column. However, the symbiotic gorgonian Eunicella singularis has also presented a locally exceptional mortality, despite its autotrophic capacities through the photosynthesis of its dinoflagellate symbionts. Thus, this study has experimentally investigated the response of E. singularis to a thermal stress (temperature increase from 18 to 26 degrees C), with colonies maintained more than 2 months under four nutritional diets: autotrophy only (AO), autotrophy and inorganic nitrogen addition (AN), autotrophy and heterotrophy (AH), heterotrophy only (HO). At 18 degrees C, and contrary to many other anthozoans, supplementation of autotrophy with either inorganic nitrogen or food (heterotrophy) had no effect on the rates of respiration, photosynthesis, as well as in the chlorophyll, lipid and protein content. In the dark, heterotrophy maintained the gorgonian's metabolism, except a bleaching (loss of pigments), which did not affect the rates of photosynthesis. At 24 degrees C, rates of respiration, and photosynthesis significantly decreased in all treatments. At 26 degrees C, in addition to a decrease in the lipid content of all treatments, a bleaching was observed after 1 week in the AO treatment, while the AH and AN treatments resisted three weeks before bleaching. These last results suggest that, temperatures above 24 degrees C impair the energetic reserves of this species and might explain the mortality events in the Mediterranean.
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-01546169
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01546169
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0064370