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Will the balance of power shift among native eastern Pacific estuary ecosystem engineers with the introduced bopyrid isopod parasite orthione griffenis?
Citation:
Chapman, J., B. Dumbauld, AND T. H. DEWITT. Will the balance of power shift among native eastern Pacific estuary ecosystem engineers with the introduced bopyrid isopod parasite orthione griffenis? Presented at Coastal & Estuarine Researach Federation 2009 Biennial Meeting, Portland, OR, November 01 - 05, 2009.
Impact/Purpose:
The blue mud shrimp, Upogebia pugettensis, the bay ghost shrimp, Neotrypaea californiensis, and eelgrass, Zostera marina are endemic ecosystem engineers that define the ecological structure and function of estuaries along the Pacific coast of the US as significantly as do marshes, mudflats and channels.
Description:
The blue mud shrimp, Upogebia pugettensis, the bay ghost shrimp, Neotrypaea californiensis, and eelgrass, Zostera marina are endemic ecosystem engineers that define the ecological structure and function of estuaries along the Pacific coast of the US as significantly as do marshes, mudflats and channels. Eelgrass is widely recognized globally as a foundation species that creates structured habitat used by juvenile fish and invertebrates. Reworking and irrigation of intertidal sediments by the two burrowing shrimp species influence infaunal community structure, food webs, and sediment biogeochemistry. Both shrimp are also critical estuary food web components preyed on by grey whales, shorebirds and large fish as adults while their larvae are important prey of juvenile fish including salmon. In particular, mud shrimp populations filter up to 60% of phytoplankton standing stock within estuaries and enhance carbon and nutrient cycling. Complex spatial interactions among ghost shrimp, mud shrimp and eelgrass are predominantly characterized by competition for space with the bioturbating ghost shrimp. Upogebia are declining in many estuaries since the ballast water introduction of Orthione griffenis, an Asian bopyridan isopod crustacean parasite. Orthione, by effectively castrating females, appears to be driving mud shrimp populations to reproductive failure and could lead to their extinction. Wide spread mud shrimp extinctions would create dramatic changes in community structure, food web dynamics and the provision of ecosystem services within Pacific estuaries, but also could shift the balance of power among these major ecosystem engineering species.