Rising pressures from local and global stressors on marine benthic habitats require understanding of their effects on habitat forming species like Crustose Coralline Algae (CCA), which play a crucial role in ecosystem diversity and structure. Here, the impact of mechanical damage and warming on the CCA species Lithophyllum stictiforme was investigated in the Mediterranean Sea using a manipulative field transplant experiment that takes advantage of temperature variations between depths of 35 m and 15 m as proxies for current and future climate scenarios. A significant effect of mechanical damage and warming on the growth angle of the thalli was detected, while no interactive effects on the other biological traits were observed. Higher temperatures increased Mg/Ca ratio in untouched thalli, but mechanical damage disrupted this pattern in broken samples. Overall, our findings highlight the resilience of thalli to warming but demonstrate suffering from mechanical damage, underlining the need for effective benthic habitat management.

中文翻译：

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在当前和未来的气候情景下，甲壳珊瑚藻类表现出对破损的复杂反应


当地和全球压力源对海洋底栖栖息地的压力不断增加，需要了解它们对形成栖息地的物种的影响，如甲壳珊瑚藻 （CCA），这些物种在生态系统多样性和结构中发挥着至关重要的作用。在这里，使用操纵性田间移植实验在地中海研究了机械损伤和变暖对 CCA 物种 Lithophyllum stictiforme 的影响，该实验利用 35 m 和 15 m 深度之间的温度变化作为当前和未来气候情景的代表。检测到机械损伤和变暖对菌体生长角度的显着影响，而未观察到对其他生物性状的交互影响。较高的温度会增加未接触菌体中的 Mg/Ca 比率，但机械损伤会破坏破碎样品中的这种模式。总体而言，我们的研究结果突出了菌体对变暖的恢复力，但表明其遭受机械损伤，强调了有效管理底栖栖息地的必要性。