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RECOVERY AND GENETIC DIVERSITY OF THE INTERTIDAL KELP LESSONIA NIGRESCENS (PHAEOPHYCEAE) 20 YEARS AFTER EL NIÑO 1982/83 1
Author(s) -
Martínez Enrique A.,
Cárdenas Leyla,
Pinto Raquel
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of phycology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.85
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1529-8817
pISSN - 0022-3646
DOI - 10.1046/j.1529-8817.2003.02191.x
Subject(s) - kelp , biology , intertidal zone , kelp forest , strongylocentrotus droebachiensis , ecology , macrocystis pyrifera , propagule , oceanography , sea urchin , geology
Massive mortality in kelp beds of the Pacific coasts of North and South America was caused by the rise in surface seawater temperature during the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event of 1982/83, the strongest in the four and half previous centuries. In northern Chile a stretch of 600 km of coastline showed massive mortality of the intertidal kelp species Lessonia nigrescens Bory, of which only a few individuals managed to survive. Kelps and their associated biodiversity recovered but kelp beds re‐colonization in general was variable in time and space seemingly very slow along northern Chilean coasts. Here we show, effectively, that northward re‐colonization advanced less than 60 km in 20 years. Conversely, kelp beds of the Northern Hemisphere recovered 300 km in only six months after the same ENSO event. Genetic diversity in the two most affected populations of L. nigrescens shows half of the heterozygosity and polymorphism with respect to that observed in six non affected populations. In addition, geographically separated populations seem highly isolated as evidenced by high and significant fixation indices (all F ST values over 0.4).