Biol Bull. 2023 Jun;244(3):143-163. doi: 10.1086/727969. Epub 2023 Dec 22.
AbstractMass mortality events provide valuable insight into biological extremes and also ecological interactions more generally. The sea star wasting epidemic that began in 2013 catalyzed study of the microbiome, genetics, population dynamics, and community ecology of several high-profile species inhabiting the northeastern Pacific but exposed a dearth of information on the diversity, distributions, and impacts of sea star wasting for many lesser-known sea stars and a need for integration across scales. Here, we combine datasets from single-site to coast-wide studies, across time lines from weeks to decades, for 65 species. We evaluated the impacts of abiotic characteristics hypothetically associated with sea star wasting (sea surface temperature, pelagic primary productivity, upwelling wind forcing, wave exposure, freshwater runoff) and species characteristics (depth distribution, developmental mode, diet, habitat, reproductive period). We find that the 2010s sea star wasting outbreak clearly affected a little over a dozen species, primarily intertidal and shallow subtidal taxa, causing instantaneous wasting prevalence rates of 5%-80%. Despite the collapse of some populations within weeks, environmental and species variation protracted the outbreak, which lasted 2-3 years from onset until declining to chronic background rates of ∼2% sea star wasting prevalence. Recruitment began immediately in many species, and in general, sea star assemblages trended toward recovery; however, recovery was heterogeneous, and a marine heatwave in 2019 raised concerns of a second decline. The abiotic stressors most associated with the 2010s sea star wasting outbreak were elevated sea surface temperature and low wave exposure, as well as freshwater discharge in the north. However, detailed data speaking directly to the biological, ecological, and environmental cause(s) and consequences of the sea star wasting outbreak remain limited in scope, unavoidably retrospective, and perhaps always indeterminate. Redressing this shortfall for the future will require a broad spectrum of monitoring studies not less than the taxonomically broad cross-scale framework we have modeled in this synthesis.
摘要
大规模死亡事件为了解生物极端情况以及更广泛的生态相互作用提供了有价值的见解。2013 年开始的海星消瘦病疫情促使人们对东北太平洋几种高知名度物种的微生物组、遗传学、种群动态和群落生态学进行了研究，但也暴露出许多鲜为人知的海星的消瘦病多样性、分布和影响的信息匮乏，以及需要跨尺度整合。在这里，我们结合了从单一地点到沿海范围的研究数据集，跨越了从数周到数十年的时间线，涉及 65 个物种。我们评估了与海星消瘦病相关的假设的非生物特征（海水表面温度、浮游初级生产力、上升流风强迫、波暴露、淡水径流）和物种特征（深度分布、发育模式、饮食、生境、繁殖期）的影响。我们发现，2010 年代的海星消瘦病疫情显然影响了十几种物种，主要是潮间带和浅亚潮带的物种，导致即时消瘦病患病率为 5%-80%。尽管一些种群在数周内崩溃，但环境和物种的变化延长了疫情的持续时间，从开始到下降到慢性背景率（约 2%的海星消瘦病患病率），持续了 2-3 年。在许多物种中，繁殖立即开始，一般来说，海星群落趋于恢复；然而，恢复是异质的，2019 年的海洋热浪引起了对第二次下降的担忧。与 2010 年代海星消瘦病疫情最相关的非生物胁迫因素是海水表面温度升高和波暴露降低，以及北部淡水排放。然而，直接说明海星消瘦病疫情的生物学、生态学和环境原因和后果的详细数据在范围上仍然有限，不可避免地具有回溯性，而且可能永远不确定。为了未来弥补这一不足，需要进行广泛的监测研究，其范围不亚于我们在这项综合研究中建模的分类广泛的跨尺度框架。
