Browsing by Subject "Fucus vesiculosus"
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(2021)During the last century, a decline in the canopy-forming foundation species Fucus vesiculosus has been observed in the Baltic Sea. The widely studied typical form of F. vesiculosus, that lives anchored to hard substrata, is at risk of further declines in the following century due to eutrophication and changes in water temperature and salinity. Fucus vesiculosus also exists in the Baltic Sea as a less common free-living form, which lives deposited in sheltered and shallow bays. This free-living form has been left understudied and little is known about their role in the ecosystem or the potential consequences of its disappearance. However, their occurrence may be equally or more under threat in the event of the aforementioned environmental changes. Additionally, it is currently unknown if mats of F. vesiculosus cause anoxia in the sediment below. This thesis will investigate the macroepifaunal and macroinfaunal communities associated to the presence of free-living F. vesiculosus across different sites in both Finland and Sweden. We will also estimate if F. vesiculosus causes anoxia. For this study, replicate frames of F. vesiculosus, including all vegetation and epifaunal community, were collected using mesh bags. Infaunal samples were randomly collected using benthic cores, both under the mat of F. vesiculosus and the adjacent bare soft bottom. All macroinvertebrates were identified to the lowest possible taxa, counted and weighed. Morphological measurements of F. vesiculosus thalli, such as length of thallus and wet weight, were recorded for every frame. Our results showed that the presence of free-living F. vesiculosus has a consistent effect across the two study locations. We found that increasing wet weight of F. vesiculosus significantly increased the abundance and biomass of the macroepifauna. The highest infaunal animal abundance and biomass were found in the bare sediment with high occurrence of opportunistic taxa. However, we found potential evidence to suggest that the presence of F. vesiculosus mats does not cause anoxia in the sediment. This study provides a much-needed first look into the macrofaunal communities associated to the free-living Fucus vesiculosus. Our study demonstrated that free-living F. vesiculosus is a potential foundation species in shallow, sheltered bays of the Baltic Sea by increasing the number of present taxa compared to adjacent bare sediment. Higher F. vesiculosus biomass directly increased the abundance and biomass of the macroepifaunal community, and the presence of free-living Fucus vesiculosus was not found to have significant negative effects on the associated macroinfaunal community.
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(2021)Eutrophication and climate change are considered to be the worst threats to the Baltic Sea ecosystem. The goal of this work is to understand, what are the consequences of environmental change to the distribution of Fucus spp., one of the key species of the Baltic Sea. Of particular interest here is to find the role of light and water turbidity in defining Fucus spp. distribution since scenario models of the effect of water turbidity defining the distribution has yet remained less studied. Nemo-SCOBI model of physical and biogeochemical conditions of the Baltic Sea calibrated according to different eutrophication and climate change scenarios were used in species distribution modelling (SDM) to predict future distribution of Fucus spp. The SDM method that was used was a regression-tree-based machine-learning generalized boosting method (GBM). In the modelling over 30 000 species presence and absence observations and six environmental variables (temperature, salinity, light attenuation, depth attenuated wave exposition and two seafloor types) were used. Water turbidity decreased in all scenarios in the areas where Fucus spp. occur but the BSAP was more beneficial scenario than the worst case scenario. Salinity decreased more and temperature increased less in the RCP8.5 scenario than in the RCP4.5 scenario. On top of that temperature decreased in the west coast of Finland in the RCP8.5 scenario. Suitable area for Fucus spp. declined in all scenarios so that the average occurrence probability decreased 11–30 percentage points. If no climate and eutrophication objectives (the Baltic Sea Action Plan and the RCP4.5) were met the average occurrence probability declined 25 percentage points. The situation for Fucus spp. is quite alarming because even if all the objectives would be achieved the suitable environment will nevertheless decline. If no actions will be taken in order to reduce nutrients the average occurrence probability declines 11–25 percentage points. Temperature decline in the RCP8.5 scenarios is thought to be caused by increasing upwelling events in the future, which may increase nutrient amounts in the coastal waters. The weak response to light and temperature and strong response to salinity and the fact that salinity decreased in all scenarios may explain why suitable areas decreased in all scenarios. There were some inconsistencies between the results and literature since the most optimistic scenario was the RCP4.5 & worst case, where BSAP goals are not achieved. This can be due to lack of species observations in the whole environmental gradients. The prediction results in the areas where water will be clearer in the future are not reliable and presumably more positive than these results show. While the BSAP scenarios may be too pessimistic the results of worst case scenarios are more reliable.
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(2020)Rakkohauru (Fucus vesiculosus) on ruskeisiin leviin kuuluva makrolevä, joka kasvaa Atlantin valtameressä laajalla alueella Grönlannista Portugaliin asti. Rakkohauru on valtamerissä vuorovesivyöhykkeen laji, joka sietää laajaa suolaisuuden ja lämpötilan vaihtelua. Itämeressä rakkohauru kasvaa kilpailun vähäisyyden vuoksi sublitoraalissa vyöhykkeessä jopa kymmenen metrin syvyyteen asti ja on tärkeä elinympäristöjä muodostava laji. Rakkohaurua pidetään useimmiten kovien pohjien lajina, joka kiinnittyy alustaansa tyvilevyn avulla. Rakkohaurusta tunnetaan kuitenkin myös toinen tyyppi, joka elää pehmeillä hiekkapohjilla tai suistoalueilla eikä ole kiinnittynyt tyvilevyllä pohjaan. Tässä työssä selvitettiin, ovatko kiinnittyneet ja vapaana elävät rakkohaurut geneettisesti erilaisia, mistä vapaana kasvavat yksilöt ovat peräisin ja voivatko ne lisääntyä itsenäisesti. Suomen ja Ruotsin rannikoilta kerättiin kymmenestä eri paikasta sekä vapaana kasvavia että kiinnittyneitä rakkohaurunäytteitä, joita verrattiin toisiinsa. Keräyspaikat sijaitsivat yhden, muutaman tai satojen kilometrien päässä toisistaan. Kerätyistä näytteistä eristettiin viisi DNA-mikrosatelliittimarkkeria, joiden perusteella tehtiin geneettiset analyysit. Tutkimustuloksista selvisi, että Suomen ja Ruotsin rakkohaurupopulaatioiden välillä ei ollut tilastollisesti merkittävää geneettistä eroa eivätkä populaatioiden väliset geneettiset erot riippuneet niiden välisestä etäisyydestä. Niinpä kysymykseen siitä, mistä vapaana kasvavat populaatiot ovat lähtöisin, ei saatu vastausta. Sen sijaan vapaana kasvavat ja kiinnittyneet rakkohaurun muodot erosivat toisistaan geneettisesti. Tämä viittaa siihen, että vapaana kasvavat populaatiot lisääntyvät ainakin osittain itsenäisesti. On mahdollista, että tämä johtaa ajan kuluessa vapaana kasvavien ja kiinnittyneiden rakkohaurun muotojen kehittymiseen omiksi lajeikseen, mutta tällä hetkellä se ei vaikuta kovin todennäköiseltä. Koska tutkitut populaatiot olivat pieniä ja käytettyjen mikrosatelliittien määrä vähäinen, lisätutkimukset ovat tarpeen tulosten luotettavuuden varmistamiseksi.
Now showing items 1-3 of 3