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The ecological role of Holothuria scabra (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) within subtropical seagrass beds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Svea-Mara Wolkenhauer ,
Sven Uthicke ,
Charis Burridge ,
Timothy Skewes  and
Roland Pitcher
Svea-Mara Wolkenhauer*
Affiliation:
Institute for Biodiversity Research, University of Rostock, Universitätsplatz 2, 18055 Rostock, Germany CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research, PO Box 120, Cleveland, Queensland 4163, Australia
Sven Uthicke
Affiliation:
Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville MC, Queensland 4810, Australia
Charis Burridge
Affiliation:
CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, PO Box 120, Cleveland, Queensland 4163, Australia
Timothy Skewes
Affiliation:
CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research, PO Box 120, Cleveland, Queensland 4163, Australia
Roland Pitcher
Affiliation:
CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research, PO Box 120, Cleveland, Queensland 4163, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: S.-M. Wolkenhauer, Institute for Biodiversity Research, University of Rostock, Universitätsplatz 2, 18055 Rostock, Germany email: swolkenhauer@hotmail.com
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Abstract

Some sea cucumbers species are heavily exploited as bêche-de-mer for the Asian food industry and the global decline of certain highly sought after species has generated an interest in determining the ecological function of those animals within their ecosystem. This study investigated the ecological role of Holothuria scabra, a commercially valuable tropical species closely associated with seagrass beds. Seagrass productivity, seagrass and benthic microalgae (BMA) biomass and organic matter (OM) were measured during two exclusion experiments conducted using in situ cages deployed for two months both in 2003 and 2004. Density of H. scabra was manipulated in caged exclusions (near-zero density, ‘EX’), caged controls (natural densities, ‘CC’) and uncaged controls (natural density, ‘NC’). Seagrass growth was lower when holothurians were excluded (5% in 2003, 12% in 2004). Seagrass biomass decreased in all treatments, but reduction was greater in EX than in controls (18% in 2003, 21% in 2004). Both BMA biomass and OM increased in EX compared to NC/CC (in 2004). From a multivariate perspective, a principal component biplot separated EX from both types of controls in 2004, and multivariate tests based on four attributes supported this separation. These results indicate that seagrass systems may suffer in the absence of holothurians; however, the effect size varied between the two experiments, possibly because experiments were conducted at different times of the year. Nevertheless, our results suggest that holothurian over-fishing could have a negative impact on the productivity of seagrass systems.

Keywords

Holothuria scabraseagrass productivitybenthic microalgaebêche-de-merover-fishing
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 90 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 215 - 223
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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