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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Loss of a globally unique kelp forest from Oman
Scientific Reports, Vol.12(1), pp.1-10
23/03/2022
PMCID: PMC8943203
PMID: 35322059
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Abstract
Kelp forests are declining in many regions globally with climatic perturbations causing shifts to alternate communities and significant ecological and economic loss. Range edge populations are often at most risk and are often only sustained through localised areas of upwelling or on deeper reefs. Here we document the loss of kelp forests (Ecklonia radiata) from the Sultanate of Oman, the only confirmed northern hemisphere population of this species. Contemporary surveys failed to find any kelp in its only known historical northern hemisphere location, Sadah on the Dhofar coast. Genetic analyses of historical herbarium specimens from Oman confirmed the species to be E. radiata and revealed the lost population contained a common CO1 haplotype found across South Africa, Australia and New Zealand suggesting it once established through rapid colonisation throughout its range. However, the Omani population also contained a haplotype that is found nowhere else in the extant southern hemisphere distribution of E. radiata. The loss of the Oman population could be due to significant increases in the Arabian Sea temperature over the past 40 years punctuated by suppression of coastal upwelling. Climate-mediated warming is threatening the persistence of temperate species and precipitating loss of unique genetic diversity at lower latitudes.
Details
- Title
- Loss of a globally unique kelp forest from Oman
- Creators
- M A Coleman - NSW FisheriesM Reddy - University of Cape TownM J Nimbs - NSW FisheriesA Marshell - Sultan Qaboos UniversityS A Al-Ghassani - Fisheries Research Centre - Dhofar, Directorate General of Fisheries Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resource, Salalah, Sultanate of OmanJ J Bolton - University of Cape TownB P Jupp - Box (United States)O De Clerck - Ghent UniversityF Leliaert - Ghent UniversityC Champion - NSW FisheriesG A Pearson - University of AlgarveE A Serrão - University of AlgarveP Madeira - University of AlgarveT Wernberg - University of Western Australia
- Publication Details
- Scientific Reports, Vol.12(1), pp.1-10
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Grant note
- We thank the PADI Foundation for funding to support this work and the Oman Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth and Sultan Qaboos University for vessel and personnel support in Oman. The expedition to Mozambique was funded by the Belgian Directorate-General for Development Cooperation through the CEBioS Programme, partim GTI, The King Léopold III Fund for Nature Exploration and Conservation, and the Research Foundation – Flanders. Scientific collection permits were granted by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, Director General of Nature Conservation, Oman (Permit Number: 6210/10/53), and the Ministry of Land and Environment, National Administration of Conservation Areas, Mozambique (Permit Number: 04/2018). Genomic analyses were also funded through an Australian Research Council grant to TW and MAC (DP200100201). The genetic work on African samples was funded by a Pew Marine Fellowship to EA Serrao and FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal) through UIDB/04326/2020, PTDC/MAR-EST/6053/2014 (Genekelp).
- Identifiers
- 991013004377502368
- Copyright
- Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2022
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; National Marine Science Centre; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article