Mapping habitats for the suitability of jellyfish blooms around the UK and Ireland

Kennerley, A., Lorenzoni, I., Luisetti, T., Wood, L. E. and Taylor, N. G. H. (2021) Mapping habitats for the suitability of jellyfish blooms around the UK and Ireland. Hydrobiologia, 848 (7). 1535–1552. ISSN 0018-8158

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Abstract

There is increasing focus on the frequency of jellyfish blooms in the Northeast Atlantic because of negative interactions with humans. However, uncertainty exists as to whether perceptions of increasing bloom frequencies reflect reality due to limitations within long-term population trend data. This study, therefore, developed and applied a semi-quantitative mapping approach to visualise bloom suitability based on the physiological tolerances of seven jellyfish to ocean temperature, salinity and a prey index across the Northeast Atlantic. A 10% increase and a 10% decrease in the environmental parameters was then applied to the maps to assess model sensitivity and the potential influence of environmental change on bloom suitability. The study found that optimal physiological temperatures and salinities combined with peaks in prey abundance drove higher bloom suitability and determined distribution. Several locations predicted to be at high risk of bloom occurrence off British and Irish coasts were found to coincide with areas of high anthropogenic activity that could be impacted by blooms. In the absence of long-term datasets on jellyfish population dynamics, the results and methods developed in this study allow an understanding of historic bloom events and predictions of future populations that will be useful in informing monitoring and management.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	environmental change,gis,habitat suitability mapping,jellyfish blooms,northeast atlantic,uk and ireland,aquatic science ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1104
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Social Sciences University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Science, Society and Sustainability Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Marine Knowledge Exchange Network
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	12 Mar 2021 00:41
Last Modified:	15 Jun 2023 00:05
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/79438
DOI:	10.1007/s10750-021-04539-4

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