Cascading disturbances in Florida Bay, USA: cyanobacteria blooms, sponge mortality, and implications for juvenile spiny lobsters Panulirus argus

Abstract

Widespread and persistent blooms of cyanobacteria coincided with the decimation of sponge communities over hundreds of square kilometers. Juvenile P. argus, among other animals, rely on sponges for shelter. The loss of sponges on 27 experimental sites in the hard bottom habitat in central Florida Bay resulted in the redistribution of juvenile lobsters among the remaining shelters, an influx of lobsters into sites where artificial shelters were present, and a decline in lobster abundances on sites without artificial shelters. -from Authors