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Seabirds enhance coral reef productivity and functioning in the absence of invasive rats

机译：在没有侵入性大鼠的情况下，海鸟可提高珊瑚礁的生产力和功能

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摘要

Biotic connectivity between ecosystems can provide major transport of organic matter and nutrients, influencing ecosystem structure and productivity(1), yet the implications are poorly understood owing to human disruptions of natural flows(2). When abundant, seabirds feeding in the open ocean transport large quantities of nutrients onto islands, enhancing the productivity of island fauna and flora(3,4). Whether leaching of these nutrients back into the sea influences the productivity, structure and functioning of adjacent coral reef ecosystems is not known. Here we address this question using a rare natural experiment in the Chagos Archipelago, in which some islands are rat-infested and others are rat-free. We found that seabird densities and nitrogen deposition rates are 760 and 251 times higher, respectively, on islands where humans have not introduced rats. Consequently, rat-free islands had substantially higher nitrogen stable isotope (delta N-15) values in soils and shrubs, reflecting pelagic nutrient sources. These higher values of delta N-15 were also apparent in macroalgae, filter-feeding sponges, turf algae and fish on adjacent coral reefs. Herbivorous damselfish on reefs adjacent to the rat-free islands grew faster, and fish communities had higher biomass across trophic feeding groups, with 48% greater overall biomass. Rates of two critical ecosystem functions, grazing and bioerosion, were 3.2 and 3.8 times higher, respectively, adjacent to rat-free islands. Collectively, these results reveal how rat introductions disrupt nutrient flows among pelagic, island and coral reef ecosystems. Thus, rat eradication on oceanic islands should be a high conservation priority as it is likely to benefit terrestrial ecosystems and enhance coral reef productivity and functioning by restoring seabird-derived nutrient subsidies from large areas of ocean.
机译：生态系统之间的生物连通性可以提供主要的有机物质和养分运输，影响生态系统的结构和生产力（1），但是由于人类对自然流的破坏，其含义尚不清楚。丰富的海鸟在公海觅食时会向岛上运送大量养分，从而提高了岛上动植物的生产力（3,4）。将这些养分浸出回海是否会影响相邻珊瑚礁生态系统的生产力，结构和功能尚不清楚。在这里，我们使用Chagos群岛的一项罕见的自然实验来解决这个问题，在该实验中，一些岛屿受到老鼠的侵扰，而另一些则没有老鼠。我们发现，在人类没有引入大鼠的岛屿上，海鸟的密度和氮的沉积率分别高760倍和251倍。因此，无老鼠的岛屿在土壤和灌木中具有较高的氮稳定同位素（δN-15）值，反映了中上层营养源。在邻近的珊瑚礁上的大型藻类，滤食性海绵，草皮藻类和鱼类中，这些较高的δN-15值也很明显。与无鼠岛相邻的礁石上的草食雀鲷生长更快，并且在营养丰富的摄食组中，鱼类群落的生物量更高，总生物量更高，为48％。与无鼠岛相邻的两个重要生态系统功能（放牧和生物侵蚀）的发生率分别高出3.2倍和3.8倍。总的来说，这些结果揭示了大鼠的引入如何扰乱中上层，岛屿和珊瑚礁生态系统之间的营养流。因此，在大洋岛屿上消灭老鼠应该是高度优先的保护工作，因为它有可能通过恢复大洋中海鸟衍生的养分补贴而有益于陆地生态系统，并提高珊瑚礁的生产力和功能。

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  • 来源
    《Nature》 |2018年第7713期|250-253|共4页
  • 作者

    Graham Nicholas A. J.; Wilson Shaun K.; Carr Peter; Hoey Andrew S.; Jennings Simon; MacNeil M. Aaron;

  • 作者单位

    Univ Lancaster, Lancaster Environm Ctr, Lancaster, England;

    Dept Biodivers Conservat & Attract, Perth, WA, Australia;

    Zool Soc London, Inst Zool, London, England;

    James Cook Univ, ARC Ctr Excellence Coral Reef Studies, Townsville, Qld, Australia;

    Int Council Explorat Sea, Copenhagen, Denmark;

    Dalhousie Univ, Dept Biol, Halifax, NS, Canada;

  • 收录信息 美国《科学引文索引》(SCI);美国《工程索引》(EI);美国《生物学医学文摘》(MEDLINE);美国《化学文摘》(CA);
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  • 正文语种 eng
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