Jellyfish bloom

A golden jellyfish bloom in Jellyfish Lake, Palau
A golden jellyfish bloom in Jellyfish Lake, Palau

Jellyfish blooms are substantial growths in population of species under the phyla Cnidaria (including several types of jellyfish) and Ctenophora (comb jellies).

Blooms may take place naturally as a result of ocean and wind patterns,[1] ecosystem shifts, and jellyfish behaviors though their occurrence is thought to have increased during the last several decades in near-shore regions and shallow seas around the world.[2] Changes in ocean conditions including eutrophication,[3] hypoxia,[4] rising ocean temperatures,[2] and coastal development, among others[5] are thought to be the main causes of increasing jellyfish blooms. Little is known regarding how future environmental conditions will affect jellyfish blooms, though this is a growing field of research.[6]

Jellyfish blooms significantly impact ecological community composition and structure by reducing available prey for higher predators.[7][4][1] Blooms also significantly alter carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling, shifting the availability to microbial communities.[7] Recent blooms have commonly overlapped with multiple industries, reducing fisheries catch,[8] clogging fishing nets and power plant pipes,[9] and overwhelming popular beach destinations leading to closures.[3]

  1. ^ a b Condon, Robert H.; Duarte, Carlos M.; Pitt, Kylie A.; Robinson, Kelly L.; Lucas, Cathy H.; Sutherland, Kelly R.; Mianzan, Hermes W.; Bogeberg, Molly; Purcell, Jennifer E.; Decker, Mary Beth; Uye, Shin-ichi (2013-01-15). "Recurrent jellyfish blooms are a consequence of global oscillations". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (3): 1000–1005. Bibcode:2013PNAS..110.1000C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1210920110. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3549082. PMID 23277544.
  2. ^ a b Condon, Robert H.; Graham, William M.; Duarte, Carlos M.; Pitt, Kylie A.; Lucas, Cathy H.; Haddock, Steven H. D.; Sutherland, Kelly R.; Robinson, Kelly L.; Dawson, Michael N.; Decker, Mary Beth; Mills, Claudia E. (2012-02-01). "Questioning the Rise of Gelatinous Zooplankton in the World's Oceans". BioScience. 62 (2): 160–169. doi:10.1525/bio.2012.62.2.9. hdl:10072/48237. ISSN 0006-3568.
  3. ^ a b Purcell, Jennifer E.; Uye, Shin-ichi; Lo, Wen-Tseng (2007-11-22). "Anthropogenic causes of jellyfish blooms and their direct consequences for humans: a review". Marine Ecology Progress Series. 350: 153–174. Bibcode:2007MEPS..350..153P. doi:10.3354/meps07093. ISSN 0171-8630.
  4. ^ a b Condon, Robert H.; Steinberg, Deborah K.; del Giorgio, Paul A.; Bouvier, Thierry C.; Bronk, Deborah A.; Graham, William M.; Ducklow, Hugh W. Jellyfish blooms result in a major microbial respiratory sink of carbon in marine systems. National Academy of Sciences. OCLC 811394885.
  5. ^ Duarte, Carlos M; Pitt, Kylie A; Lucas, Cathy H; Purcell, Jennifer E; Uye, Shin-ichi; Robinson, Kelly; Brotz, Lucas; Decker, Mary Beth; Sutherland, Kelly R; Malej, Alenka; Madin, Laurence (March 2013). "Is global ocean sprawl a cause of jellyfish blooms?" (PDF). Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 11 (2): 91–97. Bibcode:2013FrEE...11...91D. doi:10.1890/110246. hdl:10072/55576. ISSN 1540-9295.
  6. ^ Brotz, Lucas; Cheung, William W. L.; Kleisner, Kristin; Pakhomov, Evgeny; Pauly, Daniel (2012), Purcell, Jennifer; Mianzan, Hermes; Frost, Jessica R. (eds.), "Increasing jellyfish populations: trends in Large Marine Ecosystems", Jellyfish Blooms IV: Interactions with humans and fisheries, Developments in Hydrobiology, Springer Netherlands, pp. 3–20, doi:10.1007/978-94-007-5316-7_2, ISBN 9789400753167
  7. ^ a b Pitt, Kylie; Welsh, David; Condon, Robert (January 2009). "Influence of jellyfish blooms on carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling and plankton production". Hydrobiologia. 616: 133–149. doi:10.1007/s10750-008-9584-9. S2CID 22838905.
  8. ^ Lynam, Christopher P.; Gibbons, Mark J.; Axelsen, Bjørn E.; Sparks, Conrad A. J.; Coetzee, Janet; Heywood, Benjamin G.; Brierley, Andrew S. (2006-07-11). "Jellyfish overtake fish in a heavily fished ecosystem". Current Biology. 16 (13): R492–493. Bibcode:2006CBio...16.R492L. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.06.018. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 16824906.
  9. ^ Masilamani, J; Jesudoss, K; Kanavillil, Nandakumar; Satpathy, K.K.; Nair, K; Azariah, J (2000-09-10). "Jellyfish ingress: A threat to the smooth operation of coastal power plants". Current Science. 79: 567–569.