Masuda R et al. (2016), Recovery of Coastal Fauna after the 2011 Tsunam...

ECB-ART-45063

PLoS One 2016 Jan 01;1112:e0168261. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168261.

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Recovery of Coastal Fauna after the 2011 Tsunami in Japan as Determined by Bimonthly Underwater Visual Censuses Conducted over Five Years.

Masuda R , Hatakeyama M , Yokoyama K , Tanaka M .

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Massive tsunamis induce catastrophic disturbance in marine ecosystems, yet they can provide unique opportunities to observe the process of regeneration. Here, we report the recovery of fauna after the 2011 tsunami in northeast Japan based on underwater visual censuses performed every two months over five years. Both total fish abundance and species richness increased from the first to the second year after the tsunami followed by stabilization in the following years. Short-lived fish, such as the banded goby Pterogobius elapoides, were relatively abundant in the first two years, whereas long-lived species, such as the black rockfish Sebastes cheni, increased in the latter half of the survey period. Tropical fish species were recorded only in the second and third years after the tsunami. The body size of long-lived fish increased during the survey period resulting in a gradual increase of total fish biomass. The recovery of fish assemblages was slow at one site located in the inner bay, where the impact of the tsunami was the strongest. Apart from fish, blooms of the moon jellyfish Aurelia sp. occurred only in the first two years after the tsunami, whereas the abundances of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus and abalone Haliotis discus hannai increased after the second year. Although we lack quantitative data prior to the tsunami, we conclude that it takes approximately three years for coastal reef fish assemblages to recover from a heavy disturbance such as a tsunami and that the recovery is dependent on species-specific life span and habitat.

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Species referenced: Echinodermata
Genes referenced: impact LOC100887844 LOC100893907 span

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	Fig 1. Location of post-tsunami visual censuses.(A) Map of the Japanese archipelago showing major ocean currents (blue arrows), locations of the survey sites (asterisks), and earthquake epicenter (double circle). Pb, Pm, and Pr, respectively, represent the previously recorded northern distribution limits of Parupeneus barberinus, Parupeneus multifasciatus, and Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos in the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan according to Nakabo [23]. P. barberinus has never been reported in the Sea of Japan. (B) Magnified map of the survey area. (C) Four survey stations in and around the Moune Bay, Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture.

	Fig 3. Notable fish species recorded during visual surveys in the Nishi-Moune Bay.(A) Rainbow sculpin, Alcichthys elongatus (Station [st.] 4 in March 2011), (B) banded goby, Pterogobius elapoides (st. 2 in November 2011), (C) manybar goatfish, Parupeneus multifasciatus (st. 3 in September 2012), (D) dash-and-dot goatfish, Parupeneus barberinus (st. 2 in September 2013), (E) surfperch, Neoditrema ransonnetii (st. 2 in July 2013), (F) great sculpin, Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus (st. 2 in May 2014), (G) fringed blenny, Chirolophis japonicus (st. 4 in September 2014), and (H) black rockfish, Sebastes cheni (st. 2 in July 2014).
	Fig 4. Average number of individuals across four locations in the Nishi-Moune Bay of major fish and invertebrate species over the first five years after the 2011 tsunami.(A) Banded goby, Pterogobius elapoides, (B) beauty goby, Pterogobius zacalles, (C) striped sandgoby, Acentrogobius virgatulus, (D) sevenspine goby, Gymnogobius heptacanthus, (E) surfperch, Neoditrema ransonnetii, (F) black rockfish, Sebastes cheni, (G) sunrise sculpin, Pseudoblennius cottoides, (H) greenling, Hexagrammos otakii, (I) moon jellyfish, Aurelia sp., (J) sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus, and (K) abalone, Haliotis discus hannai. Different symbols and colors correspond to stations shown in Fig 1. Different letters indicate significant differences among years.

	Fig 6. nMDS ordination plot depicting Bray-Curtis similarities of total annual biomass for each fish species observed in surveys in the Nishi-Moune Bay in the first five years post-tsunami.Each plot represents a station (st.) and year, e.g., 1_5 represents the data for St. 1 in the fifth year. The stress level was 0.14. The community structure continued to change for the entire study period at st. 1, whereas major shifts in fish communities were observed from the first to the second year only at stations 2–4.

References [+] :

Abe, Impacts of the 2011 tsunami on the subtidal polychaete assemblage and the following recolonization in Onagawa Bay, northeastern Japan. 2015, Pubmed