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The Effects of Anthropogenic Structures on Habitat Connectivity and the Potential Spread of Non-Native Invertebrate Species in the Offshore Environment.

Authors :
Simons RD
Page HM
Zaleski S
Miller R
Dugan JE
Schroeder DM
Doheny B
Source :
PloS one [PLoS One] 2016 Mar 31; Vol. 11 (3), pp. e0152261. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 Mar 31 (Print Publication: 2016).
Publication Year :
2016

Abstract

Offshore structures provide habitat that could facilitate species range expansions and the introduction of non-native species into new geographic areas. Surveys of assemblages of seven offshore oil and gas platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel revealed a change in distribution of the non-native sessile invertebrate Watersipora subtorquata, a bryozoan with a planktonic larval duration (PLD) of 24 hours or less, from one platform in 2001 to four platforms in 2013. We use a three-dimensional biophysical model to assess whether larval dispersal via currents from harbors to platforms and among platforms is a plausible mechanism to explain the change in distribution of Watersipora and to predict potential spread to other platforms in the future. Hull fouling is another possible mechanism to explain the change in distribution of Watersipora. We find that larval dispersal via currents could account for the increase in distribution of Watersipora from one to four platforms and that Watersipora is unlikely to spread from these four platforms to additional platforms through larval dispersal. Our results also suggest that larvae with PLDs of 24 hours or less released from offshore platforms can attain much greater dispersal distances than larvae with PLDs of 24 hours or less released from nearshore habitat. We hypothesize that the enhanced dispersal distance of larvae released from offshore platforms is driven by a combination of the offshore hydrodynamic environment, larval behavior, and larval release above the seafloor.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1932-6203
Volume :
11
Issue :
3
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
PloS one
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
27031827
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0152261