Consistency in a marine algal-grazer interaction over multiple scales.
J Phycol
; 52(6): 942-950, 2016 12.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27711961
ABSTRACT
Coralline algae are conspicuous members of many marine assemblages, especially those characterized by intense grazing pressure. We explored whether articulated species, especially Corallina vancouveriensis, depend on grazing invertebrates to both establish and flourish in an exposed rocky intertidal setting, and whether this plant-grazer relationship varied over more than three orders of magnitude (≈100->300,000 µm). Three experimental manipulations, supplemented by observations on recruitment, demonstrated that (i) C. vancouveriensis failed to recover rapidly from disturbed areas when grazers were experimentally excluded; (ii) recruitment occurred in the presence of grazers; (iii) increasing surface texture of molded surfaces enhanced coralline recruitment more when grazers were present; and (iv) settlement occurred predominately in microtopographical low areas of a molded surface, whereas a competitively superior fleshy red alga tended to recruit to high areas. These results confirm that coralline algal establishment and persistence are enhanced by grazers and reveal that this relationship is consistent over a range of biologically relevant scales.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Food Chain
/
Rhodophyta
/
Aquatic Organisms
/
Invertebrates
Limits:
Animals
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
J Phycol
Year:
2016
Document type:
Article