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Mar Biol
2018 Jan 01;16510:163. doi: 10.1007/s00227-018-3426-8.
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Habitat with small inter-structural spaces promotes mussel survival and reef generation.
Bertolini C
,
Montgomery WI
,
O'Connor NE
.
Abstract
Spatially complex habitats provide refuge for prey and mediate many predator-prey interactions. Increasing anthropogenic pressures are eroding such habitats, reducing their complexity and potentially altering ecosystem stability on a global scale. Yet, we have only a rudimentary understanding of how structurally complex habitats create ecological refuges for most ecosystems. Better informed management decisions require an understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the provision of physical refuge and this may be linked to prey size, predator size and predator identity in priority habitats. We tested each of these factors empirically in a model biogenic reef system. Specifically, we tested whether mortality rates of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) of different sizes differed among: (i) different forms of reef structural distribution (represented as ''clumped'', ''patchy'' and ''sparse''); (ii) predator species identity (shore crab, Carcinus maenas and starfish, Asterias rubens); and (iii) predator size. The survival rate of small mussels was greatest in the clumped experimental habitat and larger predators generally consumed more prey regardless of the structural organisation of treatment. Small mussels were protected from larger A. rubens but not from larger C. maenas in the clumped habitats. The distribution pattern of structural objects, therefore, may be considered a useful proxy for reef complexity when assessing predator-prey interactions, and optimal organisations should be considered based on both prey and predator sizes. These findings are essential to understand ecological processes underpinning predation rates in structurally complex habitats and to inform future restoration and ecological engineering practices.
Fig. 1. Hypothetically predicted predator–prey relationships in ‘sparse density’ (dotted line), ‘patchy organisation’ (dashed line) and ‘clumped density’ (black line) treatments with predators of increasing size for: a total mussel mortality, and b small mussels
Fig. 2. Top view (dorsal) of the design of artificial reefs with three different spatial organisations (experimental treatments). a ‘Sparse’, b ‘clumped’, c ‘patchy’. Squares represent perspex tile, circles represent PVC pipe
Fig. 3. The relationship between mussel mortality and crab size in “sparse density†(squares, dotted line, a, d, g), “patchy†(circles, dashed line, b, e, h) and “clumped density†(triangles, continuous line, c, f, i) organisations based on: total mussel mortality (panels a–c), small mussel mortality (d–f), and proportion of small mussels mortality compared to total expressed as percentage (g–i). Lines and shading represent 95% confidence intervals extrapolated from linear models
Fig. 4. Boxplot with overlying raw data representing medians and interquartile ranges of percentage mortality of mussels exposed to different starfish sizes in “sparse density†(squares, a, d, g), “patchy†(circles, b, e, h) and “clumped density†(triangles, c, f, i) organisations based on: total mussel mortality (a–c), small mussel mortality (d–f), and proportion of small mussels mortality compared to total expressed as percentage (g–i)
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