Publication Date:
2017-01-31
Description:
In fjords and channels of the Chilean
Patagonia, the solitary cold-water coral Desmophyllum
dianthus (Esper, 1794) can be found in depths as shallow as
7 m as part of a deep-water emerging benthic community.
In the Comau Fjord, one of three Chilean fjords where
this species is forming large banks with multiple branched
pseudo colonies on the steep rock walls, shallow water coral
communities have been monitored for more than a decade.
In 2012, a mass die-off was observed along 8.4 km of coast
line and at least down to 70 m depth. Only specimens of D.
dianthus were affected while other organisms, including two
more scleractinian species, were not visibly damaged. The
event coincides with exceptionally high efflux of methane
and sulfide enriched water from cold vents in the rock walls
at this site. Due to strongly increased salmon farming activity
in the last decade, algae blooms have increased in frequency
and intensity as a result of elevated primary production.
We hypothesize and provide evidence that either harmful
substances from the cold vents or hypoxia following an
exceptionally strong algae bloom—or the synergistic effects
of both—might have caused the mass mortality.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
peerRev
