TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatio-temporal dynamics of benthic macrofaunal communities in relation to the recovery of coastal aquaculture operations following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami
AU - Fujii, Toyonobu
AU - Kaneko, Kenji
AU - Murata, Hiroki
AU - Yonezawa, Chinatsu
AU - Katayama, Ayu
AU - Kuraishi, Megumi
AU - Nakamura, Yuka
AU - Takahashi, Daisuke
AU - Gomi, Yasushi
AU - Abe, Hiroya
AU - Kijima, Akihiro
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the captain T. Hiratsuka and the crew members T. Kimura and Y. Suzuki of R/V Suikoh from Onagawa Field Centre, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University for invaluable supports in conducting the Onagawa Bay Monthly Survey. We would like to acknowledge IDEA Consultants, Inc. for supporting the sampling at sea, identifying species, and performing the laboratory analysis for the survey samples. This study was performed as part of the "TEAMS" project and supported by grants-in-aid for scientific research by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT/JSPS)
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Fujii, Kaneko, Murata, Yonezawa, Katayama, Kuraishi, Nakamura, Takahashi, Gomi, Abe and Kijima.
PY - 2019/1/15
Y1 - 2019/1/15
N2 - The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami wiped out over 1200 shellfish and ascidian culture long-lines and ~120 salmon farm cages that comprised the entire aquaculture installations in Onagawa Bay, Japan, and severely altered the associated ecosystem. A year later, we launched a coordinated monitoring program to measure the extent of the damage caused by the disaster and monitor the change in the state of the marine ecosystem. As part of this effort, we conducted multi-seasonal sampling to characterize spatio-temporal variation in benthic macrofaunal community and a range of environmental parameters across Onagawa Bay between March 2012 and January 2018. The 492 total macrofaunal species recorded included Polychaeta (38.8%), Bivalvia (13.2%), Amphipoda (10.8%), Decapoda (9.6%), Gastropoda (9.3%), and Echinodermata (4.3%). At the outermost reference site, macrofaunal abundance, biomass, and species diversity were all consistently high throughout the study period. Inside Onagawa Bay, macrofauna metrics increased steadily from the lowest values at the beginning of the study to the highest over time. During the same period, the spatial extent of aquaculture facilities for long-lines and fish cages recovered steadily to within 60.8% and 74.8% of the original state, respectively. The significant variables identified by multivariate analysis to explain spatio-temporal variability in benthic macrofaunal communities were: (1) proximity to the nearest aquaculture facilities; (2) wind fetch length (exposure); (3) sediment grain size; and (4) the total area of aquaculture facilities. This study suggests that coastal aquaculture operations may strongly influence the occurrence and distribution of benthic macrofaunal communities and thereby influence the recovery of seafloor biota at ecosystem scales following a catastrophic natural disaster.
AB - The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami wiped out over 1200 shellfish and ascidian culture long-lines and ~120 salmon farm cages that comprised the entire aquaculture installations in Onagawa Bay, Japan, and severely altered the associated ecosystem. A year later, we launched a coordinated monitoring program to measure the extent of the damage caused by the disaster and monitor the change in the state of the marine ecosystem. As part of this effort, we conducted multi-seasonal sampling to characterize spatio-temporal variation in benthic macrofaunal community and a range of environmental parameters across Onagawa Bay between March 2012 and January 2018. The 492 total macrofaunal species recorded included Polychaeta (38.8%), Bivalvia (13.2%), Amphipoda (10.8%), Decapoda (9.6%), Gastropoda (9.3%), and Echinodermata (4.3%). At the outermost reference site, macrofaunal abundance, biomass, and species diversity were all consistently high throughout the study period. Inside Onagawa Bay, macrofauna metrics increased steadily from the lowest values at the beginning of the study to the highest over time. During the same period, the spatial extent of aquaculture facilities for long-lines and fish cages recovered steadily to within 60.8% and 74.8% of the original state, respectively. The significant variables identified by multivariate analysis to explain spatio-temporal variability in benthic macrofaunal communities were: (1) proximity to the nearest aquaculture facilities; (2) wind fetch length (exposure); (3) sediment grain size; and (4) the total area of aquaculture facilities. This study suggests that coastal aquaculture operations may strongly influence the occurrence and distribution of benthic macrofaunal communities and thereby influence the recovery of seafloor biota at ecosystem scales following a catastrophic natural disaster.
KW - 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami
KW - Anthropogenic influence
KW - Benthic macrofauna
KW - Coastal aquaculture
KW - Environmental disturbance
KW - Marine ecosystem ecology
KW - Onagawa Bay
KW - Spatio-temporal dynamics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060196612&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85060196612&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2018.00535
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2018.00535
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85060196612
VL - 5
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
SN - 2296-7745
IS - JAN
M1 - 535
ER -