Abstract
Sea urchins play a crucial role in the health and dynamics of reef ecosystems. Diadema mexicanum is a dominant grazer and erosive agent of the substratum in reef environments in the eastern tropical Pacific. Its reported distribution extends from the middle of the Gulf of California (26° N) to northern Peru (6°23′ S), including oceanic islands. Here, we report the occurrence of Diadema mexicanum in Isla San Jorge (31°0′38.53″ N, 113°14′34.84″ W), the northernmost island in the Gulf of California, which extends its range an additional 600 km northward. Sea urchins, ranging in test size from 4.5 to 12.4 cm, were present at 2–6 m in October 2015. This test size was one of the largest reported for this species in the eastern tropical Pacific. Spine length in sea urchins in the upper gulf ranged from 3.3 to 15.6 cm. Variation in body size of sea urchin may reflect variation in more structurally complex reefs from isolated islands that provide shelter from predation. The reef structure of Isla San Jorge is formed by high coral cover of the scleractinian coral Porites panamensis, with an average colony height of 26.27 cm (standard error, SE ±1.58, n = 60), similar to coral reef communities of the southern Gulf of California. Although D. mexicanum is considered a great force of erosion to the substratum in reef environments in the eastern tropical Pacific, no evidence of erosion was observed at Isla San Jorge, indicating a balanced dynamic between herbivores, macroalgae, and corals.
References
Alvarado JJ, Reyes-Bonilla H, Benítez-Villalobos F (2015) Diadema mexicanum, erizo de mar clave en los arrecifes coralinos del Pacífico tropical oriental: lo que sabemos y perspectivas futuras (Diadematoida: Diadematidae). Rev Biol Trop 63:135–157
Alvarado JJ, Cortés J, Guzman H, Reyes-Bonilla H (2016) Density, size, and biomass of Diadema mexicanum (Echinoidea) in eastern tropical Pacific coral reefs. Aquat Biol 24:151–161. doi:10.3354/ab00645
Cabral-Tena RA, Reyes-Bonilla H, Lluch-Cota S, Paz-García DA, Calderón-Aguilera LE, Norzagaray-López O, Balart EF (2013) Different calcification rates in males and females of the coral Porites panamensis in the Gulf of California. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 476:1–8
Glynn PW (1997) Bioerosion and coral reef growth: a dynamic balance. In: Birkeland C (ed) Life and death of coral reefs. Chapman & Hall, New York, pp 68–95
Holguín-Quiñones O, Wright-López H, Solís-Marín FA (2000) Asteroidea, Echinoidea y Holothuroidea en fondos someros de la Bahía de Loreto, Baja California Sur, México. Rev Biol Trop 48:749–757
Makino A, Yamano H, Beger M, Klein CJ, Yara Y, Possingham HP (2014) Spatio-temporal marine conservation planning to support high-latitude coral range expansion under climate change. Divers Distrib 20:859–871. doi:10.1111/ddi.12184
Muthiga NA, McClanahan TR (2007) Ecology of Diadema. In: Lawrence JM (ed) Edible sea urchins: biology and ecology. Elsevier Science, Oxford, pp 205–225
Paz-García DA, Balart EF (2016) New record of the endemic coral Porites sverdrupi (Gulf of California): do fluctuations in seawater temperature regulate its southernmost range limit? Mar Biodivers 46(2):499–502. doi:10.1007/s12526-015-0375-z
Schultz H (2010) Sea urchins. Heinke & Peter Schultz Partner Scientific Publications, Hemdingen
Sherman E (2015) Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance and climate change. PeerJ 3:e1006. doi:10.7717/peerj.1006
Yamano H, Sugihara K, Nomura K (2011) Rapid poleward range expansion of tropical reef corals in response to rising sea surface temperatures. Geophys Res Lett 38:L04601. doi:10.1029/2010GL046474
Acknowledgments
We thank Eloisa Torres, Yareli López, and Francisco Martínez for the field assistance. Logistic support was provided by Marco Navarro, Caroline Downton, Rene Loaiza, and Briseida Mejía of Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios del Desierto y Océano (Puerto Peñasco), and Mark S. Morelli and Miguel Valdez of Ocean Camp (San Carlos, Sonora). We thank Juan José Alvarado for confirming the identification of Diadema mexicanum and suggestions that improved the manuscript, and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Ira Fogel of CIBNOR provided editorial service. Research was funded by grants CIC-UMSNH-2015 and CONACYT-CB-240875 to OD-D. DAP-G and OV-M are recipients of a CONACYT fellowship (250126 and 401738, respectively).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by S. Stöhr
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Paz-García, D.A., Valencia-Méndez, O., Domínguez-Domínguez, O. et al. Living on the edge: Diadema mexicanum in the upper Gulf of California. Mar Biodiv 48, 1261–1264 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-016-0539-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-016-0539-5