Abstract
In recent decades, an increase in the abundance and frequency of bloom events has been reported for the scyphozoan Rhizostoma pulmo in the Mediterranean Sea. Understanding such events requires a thorough assessment of the species’ population dynamics through environmental windows allowing species development. The semi-enclosed coastal lagoon of Bages Sigean, France (43°05′12.72″N; 3°00′35.3″E) offers an exceptional framework for investigating the population dynamics of the species, and how its growth rates and environmental niches vary over time. Three cohorts starting in April, May and June 2019 were identified, while the overall population growth reached the maximum biomass (10.2 g m−3) in July. Bell diameter and total length were identified as the best morphological proxies of biomass estimation. The abundances of the two most abundant copepods’ species appear to drive R. pulmo’s dynamics in the lagoon. Based on multinomial analysis and using the von Bertalanffy model, different growth rates for juveniles (4.7 and 2.4 mm day−1) and adults (1.8 and 0.9 mm day−1) were determined for the first two cohorts. Thermohaline niches varied during ontogeny, but also among populations in three coastal Mediterranean lagoons: Bages Sigean (France), Mar Menor (Spain) and Bizerte (Tunisia), shedding light on the metapopulation dynamics of R. pulmo inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea. The pressing need for understanding the dynamics of jellyfish abundances and their impacts on ecosystems, calls for increased efforts on monitoring these populations and their life history traits to parametrize and build reliable ecosystem models.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This study was conducted as part of the Ph.D. dissertation of V.L. and was supported by the National Agency for Research and Innovation, ANII, Uruguay (code POS_CFRA_2017_1_147109). We acknowledge Sandrine Crochemore, Sun Hee Lee, Ruben Tournier and Raquel Marques for their assistance during fieldwork. Authors acknowledge the funding support of the French ANR project CIGOEF (grant ANR-17-CE32-0008-01). We are grateful to the kitesurf center ‘Narbonne Kite Passion’ and local fishermen for the logistic support, in particular to the skipper Stéphane Marin, for his support onboard and for sharing his expertise on the lagoon. We also acknowledge the Aquarium of Paris, specially to Anaïs Courtet, who provided information about R. pulmo benthic stages under laboratory conditions. Figure 2 was designed by Justine Courboulès.
Funding
This study was supported by the National Agency for Research and Innovation, ANII, Uruguay (code POS_CFRA_2017_1_147109).
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Contributions
VL, JCM and DB designed the study. VL, JCM, MM and DB performed field sampling. MM and VL analyzed the data. VL, JCM, MM and DB interpreted the results. VL wrote the initial draft of the manuscript. JCM and DB made critical revisions and contributed to writing the manuscript.
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The jellyfish Rhizostoma pulmo is a cnidarian (invertebrate) which is not an endangered or protected species and therefore, no permit was needed for sampling. Sampling and field study were realized in agreement with fishermen of the area and with the directive of the Natural Park.
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Leoni, V., Molinero, J.C., Meffre, M. et al. Variability of growth rates and thermohaline niches of Rhizostoma pulmo’s pelagic stages (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa). Mar Biol 168, 107 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03914-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03914-y