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Microscale aspects in the diet of the limpet Patella vulgata L
- Source :
- Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2015, 95 (6), pp.1155-1162. ⟨10.1017/S0025315415000429⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2015
- Publisher :
- Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2015.
-
Abstract
- The limpet Patella vulgata is a key species of northern Atlantic rocky shore-associated communities, and is commonly considered to be important in regulating populations of canopy-forming Ascophyllum nodosum, through consumption of propagules and young recruits. Although P. vulgata is usually regarded as a non-selective epilithic biofilm grazer, a role in the collapse of established A. nodosum through grazing of adult plants has been repeatedly suggested. Factors controlling the preference of P. vulgata for epilithic biofilm or adult algae are still not clearly established. Here, we test the hypothesis that the diet of P. vulgata is mainly driven by the local availability of food sources. Limpets were sampled along the first 6 metres of an A. nodosum bed–bare rock gradient. Stable isotope ratios of their muscle tissue and digestive glands were measured. The contribution of A. nodosum to the diet of limpets was the highest in the immediate vicinity of macroalgae beds, which confirmed our initial hypothesis. However, the contribution of epilithic biofilm did not match our hypothesis, being the lowest for limpets colonizing bare rock. Instead, these limpets relied on a wide array of sources, including ephemeral green algae, biofilm and drifting A. nodosum fragments. Overall, our results indicate that A. nodosum can be readily grazed by limpets, which challenges the hypothesis that these macroalgae dominate rocky shores due to the absence of strong top-down control exerted by herbivores. Our results also highlight the need to consider the small spatial scale to understand the dynamic of herbivore–algae interactions in natural environments.
- Subjects :
- Nitrogen
stable isotopes
Aquatic Science
Rocky shore
Propagule
Algae
habitat structure
Grazing
Patella vulgata
14. Life underwater
organic-matter
Herbivore
biology
Ascophyllum nodosum
stable-isotope ratios
Ecology
ACL
carbon
Limpet
15. Life on land
biology.organism_classification
communities
ascophyllum-nodosum
13. Climate action
food webs
rocky shore
spatial variability
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
Ascophyllum
intertidal consumers
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14697769 and 00253154
- Volume :
- 95
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....98de09c5c9da777f53d267643a5c4c4c