• Energy Research

AbstractThe differential response of marine populations to climate change remains poorly understood. Here, we combine common garden thermotolerance experiments in aquaria and population genetics to disentangle the factors driving the population response to thermal stress in a temperate habitat-forming species: the octocoral Paramuricea clavata. Using eight populations separated from tens of meters to hundreds of kilometers, which were differentially impacted by recent mortality events, we identify 25 °C as a critical thermal threshold. After one week of exposure at this temperature, seven of the eight populations were affected by tissue necrosis and after 30 days of exposure at this temperature, the mean % of affected colonies increased gradually from 3 to 97%. We then demonstrate the weak relation between the observed differential phenotypic responses and the local temperature regimes experienced by each population. A significant correlation was observed between these responses and the extent of genetic drift impacting each population. Local adaptation may thus be hindered by genetic drift, which seems to be the main driver of the differential response. Accordingly, conservation measures should promote connectivity and control density erosion in order to limit the impact of genetic drift on marine populations facing climate change.

Generally speaking, the term benthos refers to all aquatic organisms (marine or freshwater) living in close relationship with the bottom of seas and oceans, lakes and rivers. A distinction is made between the plant benthos or phytobenthos (algae and phanerogams), and the animal benthos or zoobenthos (annelids, molluscs, crustaceans, echinoderms, fish, etc.). Furthermore, the fauna situated on the surface (or epifauna), which may be fixed or free, is different from that which lives inside the sediment (endofauna). Finally, in this section we are interested only in marine macrobenthos (organisms larger than a few mm), from the tidal zone to the abyssal depths. The smaller forms (meiofauna-flora and microfauna-flora), which are practically not documented, are not taken into account in this chapter on the bottoms of the St-Paul and Amsterdam Islands. The area has been explored only sporadically during the passage of a few vessels on scientific expeditions focused on other interests. Only one of them, dedicated to the exploration of the zone from 0 to 3000 m of depth ("Jasus"), took place in 1985, on board the Marion-Dufresne. The purpose of this chapter is to make an assessment of the situation in 2022, in the context of a fishing zone within a marine protected area. {"references": ["F\u00e9ral (J.-P.) 2023. Les composantes biologiques : flore et faune marines subtropicales de l'h\u00e9misph\u00e8re sud \u2013 Le benthos, In: G. Duhamel (coord.) Les \u00eeles Saint-Paul et Amsterdam (Oc\u00e9an Indien sud) : environnement marin et p\u00eacheries. Mus\u00e9um national d'histoire naturelle, Paris, pp. 51-85 (Patrimoines naturels : 84), \u27e8hal-03575176\u27e9, doi : 10.5281/zenodo.7768288"]}

In the current context of climate change, sea-surface temperature variation, sea level rise and latitudinal shifts of currents and hydrological fronts are expected to affect marine biodiversity of the sub-Antarctic Islands, particularly in coastal waters. Characterising the impacts of climate change on marine communities requires recording environmental modifications through the establishment of long-term monitoring. PROTEKER aims at the establishment of a submarine observatory consisting of multi-disciplinary research: oceanography, habitat mapping and species inventories, genetic, eco-physiological and trophic analyses. It also aims to provide scientific standards for the management of the Kerguelen Marine Reserve. Eighteen sampling sites of previous programs were revisited by scuba diving among which eight were selected for monitoring and were progressively equipped. ROV observations and beam trawling have also been conducted for contextualisation. These sites (Morbihan Bay (4), North (2) and South (2) coast) are monitored using photo/video surveys, temperature and salinity sensors, and settlement plots. Sessile communities collected on settlement plots will be characterised yearly through morphological and DNA techniques. Phylogeographical studies of target taxa are being conducted to improve our knowledge of endemicity and connectivity levels among sub-Antarctic islands. {"references": ["F\u00e9ral (J.-P.), Poulin (E.), Gonz\u00e1lez-Wevar (C.A.), Am\u00e9ziane (N.), Guillaumot (C.), Develay (E.), Sauc\u00e8de (T.) 2019. Long-term monitoring of coastal benthic habitats in the Kerguelen Islands: a legacy of decades of marine biology research. In: Welsford, D., J. Dell and G. Duhamel (Eds). The Kerguelen Plateau: marine ecosystem and fisheries. Proceedings of the Second Symposium. Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia. ISBN: 978-1-876934-30-9, pp 383-402, doi : 10.5281/zenodo.3249143."]}

Cet article reprend dans la revue de l'AMAEPF les termes du rapport d'activité de la première phase de l'installation de l'observatoire sous-marin (8 stations réparties dans la Baie du Morbihan et au nord et au sud de l'Archipel des Kerguelen): programme IPEV n°1044 Proteker

The St-Paul and Amsterdam (SPA) islands are surrounded by giant kelp of which the most abundant is Macrocystis pyrifera, a monospecific genus widely spread in both hemispheres. In SPA, the species is at the northern limit of its southern distribution. M. pyrifera is limited by the winter isotherm 3°C (lethality at 2°C) and the summer isotherm 18°C (lethality between 21 and 25°C). The average temperature of the sea water in SPA fluctuates between 12.5°C in winter and 19.5°C in summer. It is likely that the species may be threatened by the effects of climate change as observed in Tasmania. The problem would be related to the consequences of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), notably a decrease in precipitation and an increase in sea surface temperatures as well as mortality due to storms. {"references": ["F\u00e9ral (J.-P.) 2023. Les composantes biologiques : flore et faune marines subtropicales de l'h\u00e9misph\u00e8re sud \u2013 Les ceintures de Phaeophyceae. In: G. Duhamel (coord.) Les \u00eeles Saint-Paul et Amsterdam (Oc\u00e9an Indien sud) : environnement marin et p\u00eacheries. Mus\u00e9um national d'histoire naturelle, Paris, pp. 44-50 (Patrimoines naturels : 84) \u27e8hal-03575185\u27e9, doi : 10.5281/zenodo.7768595"]}

Abstract The Kerguelen Islands are part of the French Southern Territories, located at the limit of the Indian and Southern oceans. They are highly impacted by climate change, and coastal marine areas are particularly at risk. Assessing the responses of species and populations to environmental change is challenging in such areas for which ecological modelling can constitute a helpful approach. In the present work, a DEB-IBM model (Dynamic Energy Budget – Individual-Based Model) was generated to simulate and predict population dynamics in an endemic and common benthic species of shallow marine habitats of the Kerguelen Islands, the sea urchin Abatus cordatus. The model relies on a dynamic energy budget model (DEB) developed at the individual level. Upscaled to an individual-based population model (IBM), it then enables to model population dynamics through time as a result of individual physiological responses to environmental variations. The model was successfully built for a reference site to simulate the response of populations to variations in food resources and temperature. Then, it was implemented to model population dynamics at other sites and for the different IPCC climate change scenarios RCP 2.6 and 8.5. Under present-day conditions, models predict a more determinant effect of food resources on population densities, and on juvenile densities in particular, relative to temperature. In contrast, simulations predict a sharp decline in population densities under conditions of IPCC scenarios RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5 with a determinant effect of water warming leading to the extinction of most vulnerable populations after a 30-year simulation time due to high mortality levels associated with peaks of high temperatures. Such a dynamic model is here applied for the first time to a Southern Ocean benthic and brooding species and offers interesting prospects for Antarctic and sub-Antarctic biodiversity research. It could constitute a useful tool to support conservation studies in these remote regions where access and bio-monitoring represent challenging issues.