Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T04:21:33.471Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rapid changes in the epifaunal community after detachment of buoyant benthic macroalgae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2008

L. Gutow ,
L. Giménez ,
K. Boos  and
R. Saborowski
L. Gutow*
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Box 12 01 61, 27515 Bremerhaven, Germany
L. Giménez
Affiliation:
School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, LL59 5AB, UK
K. Boos
Affiliation:
Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Foundation Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Marine Station, Box 180, 27483 Helgoland, Germany
R. Saborowski
Affiliation:
Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Foundation Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Marine Station, Box 180, 27483 Helgoland, Germany
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: L. Gutow, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Box 12 01 61, 27515 Bremerhaven, Germany email: Lars.Gutow@awi.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Rafting on floating macroalgae is a common dispersal mechanism of marine benthic invertebrates. Most benthic macroalgae are inhabited by diverse epifaunal communities but not all organisms may be adapted to live on floating algae. In particular, knowledge about the immediate effects of algal detachment on the associated biota is limited. Herein, we studied the composition of the communities of mobile invertebrates on benthic thalli of Ascophyllum nodosum and compared it with detached thalli that had floated for short periods. The community of the mobile invertebrates changed significantly within the first minute after detachment of the algae and showed decreased diversity and a tendency towards reduced abundances in most taxa. However, during the subsequent two hours of floating at the sea surface the species composition did not change further. A comparison of the size-spectra of the gastropod Littorina obtusata from attached and detached algae did not reveal differential migratory activity among size-classes of these gastropods. Most of the species encountered in this study are common rafters in coastal and offshore waters, which are well capable of holding onto floating seaweeds. Therefore, our results indicate that the animals actively abandoned the macroalgae immediately after detachment. A benefit of this behaviour may be to avoid increased predation risk in the open water. The fact that individuals remain associated with their algal host after detachment indicates the importance of rafting dispersal for a great variety of phytal species that might lead to range expansion and regional population persistence through metapopulation effects.

Keywords

active migrationpassive dispersalphytal invetebratesrafting
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 2 , March 2009 , pp. 323 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, M. (2001) A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis. Austral Ecology 26, 32–46.Google Scholar
Anderson, M. (2003) CAP: a FORTRAN computer program for canonical analysis of principal coordinates. Department of Statistics, University of Aukland, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Anderson, M. (2004) PERMDISP: a FORTRAN computer program for permutational analysis of multivariate dispersions (for any two-factor ANOVA design) using permutation tests. Department of Statistics, University of Auckland, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Anderson, M. (2005) PERMANOVA: a FORTRAN computer program for permutational multivariate analysis of variance. Department of Statistics, University of Aukland, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Anderson, M. and Willis, T. (2003) Canonical analysis of principal coordinates: a useful method of constrained ordination for ecology. Ecology 84, 511–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anonymous (1993) Sjávarföll við Ísland 1994. Sjómælingar Íslands 41, 31 pp.Google Scholar
Cheng, L. (1975) Marine pleuston—animals at the sea–air interface. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 13, 181–212.Google Scholar
Coleman, R.A., Ramchunder, S.J., Davies, K.M., Moody, A.J. and Foggo, A. (2007) Herbivore-induced infochemicals influence foraging behaviour in two intertidal predators. Oecologia 151, 454–463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dommasnes, A. (1968) Variations in the meiofauna of Corallina officinalis L. with wave exposure. Sarsia 34, 117–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duggins, D., Eckman, J.E., Siddon, C.E. and Klinger, T. (2001) Interactive roles of mesograzers and current flow in survival of kelps. Marine Ecology Progress Series 223, 143–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edgar, G.J. (1987) Dispersal of faunal and floral propagules associated with drifting Macrocystis pyrifera plants. Marine Biology 95, 599–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Espinosa, F. and Guerra-García, J.M. (2005) Algae, macrofaunal assemblages and temperature: a quantitative approach to intertidal ecosystems of Iceland. Helgoland Marine Research 59, 273–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrold, C. and Lisin, S. (1989) Radio-tracking rafts of giant kelp: local production and regional transport. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 130, 237–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hobday, A.J. (2000) Persistence and transport of fauna on drifting kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera (L.) C. Agardh) rafts in the Southern California Bight. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 253, 75–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hurlbert, S.H. (1971) The nonconcept of species diversity: a critique and alternative parameters. Ecology 52, 577–586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingólfsson, A. (1995) Floating clumps of seaweed around Iceland: natural microcosms and a means of dispersal for shore fauna. Marine Biology 122, 13–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingólfsson, A. (1996) The distribution of intertidal macrofauna on the coasts of Iceland in relation to temperature. Sarsia 81, 29–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingólfsson, A. (1998) Dynamics of macrofaunal communities of floating seaweed clumps off western Iceland: a study of patches on the surface of the sea. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 231, 119–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johannesson, K. (1988) The paradox of Rockall: why is a brooding gastropod (Littorina saxatilis) more widespread than one having a planktonic larval dispersal stage (L. littorea)? Marine Biology 99, 507–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, M.W. and Menzies, R.J. (1956) The migratory habits of the marine gribble Limnoria tripunctata Menzies in San Diego Harbor, California. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 110, 54–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingsford, M.J. and Choat, J.H. (1985) The fauna associated with drift algae captured with a plankton-mesh purse seine net. Limnology and Oceanography 30, 618–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, D.J.W., Beaumont, A.R. and Hunter, J.R. (1985) Byssus drifting and the drifting threads of the young post-larval mussel Mytilus edulis. Marine Biology 84, 301–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Legendre, P. and Legendre, L. (1998) Numerical ecology. 2nd edition. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Martel, A. and Chia, F.S. (1991) Drifting and dispersal of small bivalves and gastropods with direct development. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 150, 131–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miranda, L. and Thiel, M. (2008) Active and passive migration in boring isopods Limnoria spp. (Crustacea, Peracarida) from kelp holdfasts. Journal of Sea Research 60, 176–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, W.G. (1979) Experimental studies of selective predation on amphipods: consequences for amphipod distribution and abundance. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 38, 225–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nilsson, P.G., Levinton, J.S. and Kurdziel, J.P. (2000) Migration of a marine oligochaete: induction of dispersal and microhabitat choice. Marine Ecology Progress Series 207, 89–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ó Foighil, D., Marshall, B.A., Hilbish, T.J. and Pino, M.A. (1999) Trans-Pacific range extension by rafting is inferred for the flat oyster Ostrea chilensis. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory. Woods Hole 196, 122–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seymour, R.J., Tegner, M.J., Dayton, P.K. and Parnell, P.E. (1989) Storm wave induced mortality of giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, in southern California. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 28, 277–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoner, A.W. and Greening, H.S. (1984) Geographic variation in the macrofaunal associates of pelagic Sargassum and some biogeographic implications. Marine Ecology Progress Series 20, 185–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takeuchi, I. and Sawamoto, S. (1998) Distribution of caprellid amphipods (Crustacea) in the western North Pacific based on the CSK International Zooplankton Collection. Plankton Biology and Ecology 45, 225–230.Google Scholar
Taylor, R.B. (1998) Short-term dynamics of a seaweed epifaunal assemblage. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 227, 67–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thiel, M. and Gutow, L. (2005a) The ecology of rafting in the marine environment. I. The floating substrata. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 42, 181–263.Google Scholar
Thiel, M. and Gutow, L. (2005b) The ecology of rafting in the marine environment. II. The rafting organisms and community. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 43, 279–418.Google Scholar
Thiel, M. and Haye, P.A. (2006) The ecology of rafting in the marine environment. III. Biogeographical and evolutionary consequences. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 44, 323–429.Google Scholar
Thomsen, M.S., Wernberg, T. and Kendrick, G.A. (2004) The effect of thallus size, life stage, aggregation, wave exposure and substratum conditions on the forces required to break or dislodge the small kelp Ecklonia radiata. Botanica Marina 47, 454–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsikhon-Lukanina, E.A., Reznichenko, O.G. and Nikolaeva, G.G. (2001) Ecology of invertebrates on the oceanic floating substrata in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Oceanology 41, 525–530.Google Scholar
Vandendriessche, S., Messiaen, M., O'Flynn, S., Vincx, M. and Degraer, S. (2007a) Hiding and feeding in floating seaweed: floating seaweed clumps as possible refuges or feeding grounds for fishes. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 71, 691–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vandendriessche, S., Stienen, E.W.M., Vincx, M. and Degraer, S. (2007b) Seabirds foraging at floating seaweeds in the Northeast Atlantic. Ardea 95, 289–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vásquez, J.A. (1993) Effects on the animal community of dislodgement of holdfasts of Macrocystis pyrifera. Pacific Science 47, 180–184.Google Scholar