Jellyfish are ecosystem engineers reported
in Hakai Magazine 19 February 2020 and bioRxiv 8 November 2019,
doi.org/10.1101/784173.
Tides and winds keep water flowing in most coastal regions, but in some
sheltered areas among mangroves, tides and winds may not penetrate enough to
keep the water moving. Scientists at University of South Florida who were
studying the mangroves of Long Key, Florida have found a peculiar jellyfish
named Cassiopea which improves water flow in sheltered areas, which is
essential in keeping nutrients available and maintaining water quality for the
plants and animals living in them.
Cassiopea is an unusual jellyfish in that it sits upside down on the sea
floor with its tentacles projecting into the water. These jellyfish constantly
pulse their tentacles and this movement is enough to create a constant flow of
water. The research team studied the flow of water around the jellyfish in
their lab and in the natural environment, and estimated that at the usual
population density on the sea floor, the jellyfish generate enough flow to turn
over a one metre water column every 15 minutes. This keeps nutrients and
dissolved gases flowing, and also helps flush away salt left in the mangrove
soil.
The researchers concluded, “This study demonstrates that the upside-down
jellyfish represents a previously unrecognized ecosystem engineer that can
affect primary productivity, nutrient distribution, and alter new habitats as
their range is expanding”. Eric Wolanski, a coastal oceanographer at James Cook
University in Australia commented: “It’s quite clear that there are no other
species that create as much turbulence in the mangroves”.
Hakai
Editorial Comment: Terms such as “ecosystem engineering” and “ecosystem
services” are regularly used by evolutionary biologists, but if they believe in
a theory that living things came into being by vast ages of struggle and
competition, and survival of the fittest at the expense of the unfit, they
cannot explain how these ‘engineered’ interdependent systems came about. The
type of mutually beneficial interaction seen with this jellyfish and other
creatures living amongst mangroves, is a reminder that God created whole
functioning ecosystems with completely different organisms living and working
together from the beginning.
Creation Research News
6 May 2020
Creation Research Australia