Lab Experiments Identify Critical Habitats for Black Abalone
Researchers:
Tal Ben-Horin
Doctoral Student
Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
UC Santa Barbara
E.: tbenhorin@bren.ucsb.edu
Hunter Lenihan
Professor
Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
UC Santa Barbara
E.: lenihan@bren.ucsb.edu
Relevant Links:
- NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources
- Proposed Rulemaking To Designate Critical Habitat for Black Abalone:
Tools:
Revised:
October 8, 2008
Dorsal view of a black abalone shell. The shell is typically 10-14 centimeters in length. D. Cavallari/Wikipedia Commons
October 8, 2008
Contact: Christina S. Johnson, csjohnson@ucsd.edu, 858-822-5334
SANTA BARBARA – It is well recognized that warm water stresses the immune system of California abalone, making them more vulnerable to the wasting disease known as withering syndrome.
New California Sea Grant research suggests thermal stress comes with another peril for black abalone: It can turn its habitat–the rocky intertidal–into a much less desirable place to call home.
Why? The leading theory: Heat cripples Haliotis cracherodii’s ability to cope gracefully with exposure to air during low tides.
Black abalone in deep crevice on San Nicolas Island, one of California’s Channel Islands. Sea Grant research suggests these types of habitats should be protected for black abalone recovery. T. Ben-Horin/UCSB
When not immersed, the mollusks experience the full force of daytime and nighttime temperature extremes, explains Tal Ben-Horin, a doctoral student in marine science at UC Santa Barbara.
In laboratory experiments, it is these temperature extremes that accelerate disease transmission.
“Abalone in marginal habitats end up becoming the Typhoid Mary of withering syndrome,” Ben-Horin says. The best habitats for the abalone are the deep crevices that are only rarely or briefly exposed.
Findings were recently shared with NOAA Fisheries biologists in charge of designating critical habitat and developing a recovery plan for the federally protected endangered species.
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