Robo-mussels To The Rescue
Robo-mussels Sensor in a Marine Reef. (credit: Northeastern University)
Keystone species are very important ecolgically. This value is typically seen when they are removed or absent from an ecosystem.
Their lack causes dramatic changes to the rest of the community. This has been observed in a diversity of ecosystems and wide range of animals, so what happens to keystone species happens to others. A dramatic example of this was seen after the re-introduction of wolves into Yellowstone after a century. Within a very few years, changes to the entire ecosystem in plants and animals was easily observed. Recovery of an ecological balance happened far faster than anyone expected.
Mussels function similarly as keystone species in coastal and marine tidal zones. Innovative research at Northeastern University has determined just how important these mollusks are to marine ecology. Their resilience or susceptibility to climate change is critical to know. Deploying artificial "robo-mussels" in costal mussel beds, with the size, shape, and color of their living counterparts, the robots tracked environmental conditions including temperature and sunlight.
According to the research announcement, the environmental data gathered by the robotic-sensors determined mussel body temperatures, which is sensitive to the surrounding air or water, and the amount of sunshine received. The measurements formed a baseline allowing the investigators: "to pinpoint areas of unusual warming, intervene to help curb damage to vital marine ecosystems, and develop strategies that could prevent extinction of certain species."
Brian Helmuth, who led the project, considers mussels a good barometer of climate change. They rely on external sources of heat, like air temperature and sun exposure for their body heat, to thrive, or not, depending on those conditions. If climate change alters this stability, mussel beds could decline or become restricted to smaller areas. The researcher cautioned: "loosing mussel beds is essentially like clearing a forest. If they go, everything that’s living in them will also go."
An article detailing the research results was published in Nature, Scientific Data. You may be hearing a great deal more about "keystone species" and climate change as more studies employ robots to collect environmental data.
WHB