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Growth and production of new recruits and adult individuals of Ascophyllum nodosum in a non-harvested population at its southern limit (Galicia, NW Spain)

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Abstract

Populations near the geographic distribution limits of the species are considered to live under suboptimal conditions, and hence, slight environmental changes can be critical for their survival. The potential sensitivity to disturbances of the long-living macroalga Ascophyllum nodosum was analyzed by the determination of growth, recruitment, mortality, and production of biomass of a population near its southern distribution limit. Recruitment, survival and growth rates of <2 years old individuals were determined in a new population growing in experimentally denudated squares. Demographic data for >2 years old individuals were obtained from individuals in the original population after estimating their age from the number of gas bladders in the thallus. Growth and survival were described as continuous nonlinear functions of age applied to the population and were further used to make demography-based production estimates. Recruitment of A. nodosum in denudated substrates seemed to require a previous cover of other macroalgae (as Fucus vesiculosus) as the only cohort detected during the 26-month period of the study was observed after F. vesiculosus individuals started to increase. The low production estimates (2,033 g m−2 for a 10 year period) and poor recruitment may indicate a slow recuperation of this population to denudation. However, the large variability observed in the estimated growth curves of different populations along this southern distribution area suggests a large influence of local conditions that may help to overcome environmental changes at regional scales.

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Acknowledgments

We thank A.F. Lamas and J. Varela for assistance in the samplings. We also acknowledge the comments and suggestions of three anonymous reviewers that greatly contributed to improve the manuscript. This research was funded by project ANILE (CTM2009-08396 and CTM2010-09904-E) of the Plan Nacional de I+D+I (Spain). I.G.V. was supported by a FPI fellowship from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de A Coruña, Apdo. 130, 15080, A Coruña, Spain

    Inés G. Viana & Antonio Bode

  2. Unidad de Ecología, Departamento de Biología de Organismos y Sistemas, Universidad de Oviedo, 33071, Oviedo, Spain

    Consolación Fernández

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  1. Inés G. Viana
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  2. Antonio Bode
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  3. Consolación Fernández
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Correspondence to Inés G. Viana.

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Communicated by K. Bischof.

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Viana, I.G., Bode, A. & Fernández, C. Growth and production of new recruits and adult individuals of Ascophyllum nodosum in a non-harvested population at its southern limit (Galicia, NW Spain). Mar Biol 161, 2885–2895 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2553-0

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