foundation species
foundation species at World Data Ocean is a file of 2 stories. The newest of them: “Vanishing foundations: Florida Keys hardbottom communities lose sponges and corals” and “Earthquake Alters Costa Rican Seep, Testing Chemosynthetic Ecosystem Resilience”. A quiet unraveling is underway in the Florida Keys. A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific Costa Rican Margin in November 2017, and the resulting data is reshaping what we know about deep-sea resilience. A Global Hub for Ocean Intelligence 4 World Data Ocean is a centralized digital platform where researchers, scientists, and ocean enthusiasts converge to… The list below is every foundation species story on World Data Ocean, newest first.
Vanishing foundations: Florida Keys hardbottom communities lose sponges and corals
A quiet unraveling is underway in the Florida Keys. Between 2006 and 2023, the nearshore hardbottom communities that anchor this ecosystem lost their largest structure-forming sponges, like the loggerhead sponge, likely due to repeated cyanobacteria blooms. Stony corals held steady, yet sponge decline signals a decoupling of habitat from higher trophic levels. Understanding drives protection, and these empirical shifts set clear restoration priorities.
Earthquake Alters Costa Rican Seep, Testing Chemosynthetic Ecosystem Resilience
A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific Costa Rican Margin in November 2017, and the resulting data is reshaping what we know about deep-sea resilience. Researchers mapped shifts in seepage and species distribution across Mound 12, finding that vesicomyid clams acted as pioneers by relocating in response to changing abiotic signals. This is direct evidence of movement in a methane-seep habitat. It suggests these ecosystems may recover from disturbance, but recovery is not uniform.