Howard, Hunter B.
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Publication Restricted Caribbean sea urchins 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘴 and 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘶𝘮 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪 can act as biological controls for the invasive seagrass, 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘢(2023-12-11) Howard, Hunter B.; Cruz Motta, Juan J.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Williams, Stacey M.; Weil Machado, Ernesto F.; Department of Marine Sciences; Díaz Lameiro, Alondra M.Caribbean seagrass beds face an escalating invasion by Halophila stipulacea, negatively impacting native seagrasses. Concurrently, herbivore grazing influences seagrass ecosystem dynamics. This study investigates the potential of native Caribbean herbivores, specifically sea urchins Tripneustes ventricosus and Diadema antillarum, to mitigate H. stipulacea spread. In exclusion experiments, both species were caged in seagrass beds across multiple sites, grazing on H. stipulacea. Results show that both urchins can graze H. stipulacea to bare sediment within four weeks. D. antillarum produced an average of 74 viable fragments monthly, while T. ventricosus produced 21. T. ventricosus exhibited a preference for native food but still consumed H. stipulacea. No significant differences were observed between lab-reared and field-collected urchins. This suggests that releasing D. antillarum and T. ventricosus could effectively mitigate H. stipulacea impacts in Puerto Rico, proposing a small-scale defense strategy.