RT journal article
T1 A facultative mutualism facilitates European seagrass meadows
A1 de Fouw, Jimmy
A1 Holmer, Marianne
A1 Beca Carretero, Pedro
A1 Boström, Christoffer
A1 Brice, Jessica
A1 Brun Murillo, Fernando Guillermo
A1 Cruijsen, Peter M. J. M.
A1 Govers, Laura L.
A1 Garmendia, Joxe Mikel
A1 Meysick, Lukas
A1 Pajusalu, Liina
A1 Richir, Jonathan
A1 Robroek, Bjorn
A1 Valle, Mireia
A1 van der Ven, Paul
A1 Eklöf, Johan S.
A1 van der Heide, Tjisse
A2 Biología
K1 European coastline
K1 conservation
K1 Lucinidae
K1 mutualism
K1 positive interactions
K1 seagrass meadows
AB Coastal ecosystem functioning often hinges on habitat-forming foundation species that engage in positive interactions (e.g. facilitation and mutualism) to reduce environmental stress. Seagrasses are important foundation species in coastal zones but are rapidly declining with losses typically linked to intensifying global change-related environmental stress. There is growing evidence that loss or disruption of positive interactions can amplify coastal ecosystem degradation as it compromises its stress mitigating capacity. Multiple recent studies highlight that seagrass can engage in a facultative mutualistic relationship with lucinid bivalves that alleviate sulphide toxicity. So far, however, the generality of this mutualism, and how its strength and relative importance depend on environmental conditions, remains to be investigated. Here we study the importance of the seagrass-lucinid mutualistic interaction on a continental-scale using a field survey across Europe. We found that the lucinid bivalve Loripes orbiculatus is associated with the seagrasses Zostera noltii and Zostera marina across a large latitudinal range. At locations where the average minimum temperature was above 1 °C, L. orbiculatus was present in 79% of the Zostera meadows; whereas, it was absent below this temperature. At locations above this minimum temperature threshold, mud content was the second most important determinant explaining the presence or absence of L. orbiculatus. Further analyses suggest that the presence of the lucinids have a positive effect on seagrass biomass by mitigating sulphide stress. Finally, results of a structural equation model (SEM) support the existence of a mutualistic feedback between L. orbiculatus and Z. noltii. We argue that this seagrass-lucinid mutualism should be more solidly integrated into management practices to improve seagrass ecosystem resilience to global change as well as the success of restoration efforts.
PB Wiley
SN 0906-7590
YR 2023
FD 2023-04-14
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/29689
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/29689
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 11-nov-2026