Muricid Drilling Predation at High Latitudes: Insights From the Southernmost Atlantic

Abstract

Drilling predation is frequently studied in the fossil record. Less information is available from recent environments, however. Previous studies have indicated that drilling predation is usually higher in the tropics but little research has been undertaken in high latitudes. To address this hypothesis, we examine muricid-drilling predation along a 1,000 km transect in southern South America. Drilling frequencies ranged between 3% and 36%, and they were not correlated with the abundance of the predator (Trophon geversianus) or the abundance of its preferred prey. The only locality with exceptionally high predation (36%) was a heavily anthropogenically impacted site. Trophon exhibited different drilling strategies on different prey, and edge drilling represented 27%-56% of the drill holes in mytilids. Drilling frequencies were not correlated with latitude or water temperature. Our results, however, show that drilling frequencies are indeed lower at high latitudes compared to the tropics, and these data provide a recent baseline to compare and interpret spatial variability in muricid drilling predation from past environments. The fact that dead-shell assemblages seem to be recording human-related impacts in this system strengthens their relevance as potentially valuable conservation tools.

Drilling predation traces on recent limpets from northern Patagonia, Argentina

“…Along the extensive Atlantic coast of Argentine Patagonia, recent shells are naturally concentrated on the beaches by the action of tides, waves and wind. These concentrations are common, and allow a variety of studies centered on the analysis of ecological attributes, such as drilling predation at local or regional level Archuby, 2012, 2014;Martinelli et al, 2013). The death assemblages constitute appropriate samples of the shelled portion of living communities and are affected mainly by the action of time (Tomašových and Kidwell, 2009Kidwell and Tomašových, 2013;Archuby et al, 2015).…”

“…Previous studies of drilling predation are available, in the form of in situ surveys and/or experiments with living fauna (e.g., Palmer, 1984;1988;Kabat, 1990;Kowalewski, 2004;Chattopadhyay and Baumiller, 2007;Pio, 2010;Tyler and Schiffbauer, 2012;Gordillo and Archuby, 2012;Archuby and Leighton, 2014), recent death assemblages (Yanes and Tyler, 2009;Martinelli et al, 2013;Gordillo and Archuby, 2014) and fossil assemblages (Taylor et al, 1983;Leighton, 2003;Ceranka and Złotnik, 2003;Klompmaker et al, 2015, and many others). There are also studies, which deal with the temporal patterns of drilling predation (e.g., Kowalewski et al, 1998;Harper, 2003;Kelley and Hansen, 2003;Dietl et al, 2004;Klompmaker and Kelley, 2015, among others).…”

“…There are also studies, which deal with the temporal patterns of drilling predation (e.g., Kowalewski et al, 1998;Harper, 2003;Kelley and Hansen, 2003;Dietl et al, 2004;Klompmaker and Kelley, 2015, among others). However, there are only a few articles, mostly recent, which provide a quantitative study of drilling predation in death assemblages from southern South America (namely, Gordillo, 1994Gordillo, , 1998Archuby, 2012, 2014;Martinelli et al, 2013).…”

“…In an attempt to characterize the association between muricid drilling intensity and latitude, Martinelli et al (2013) sampled dead shells along more than 1,000 km of the Patagonian Atlantic coast (Argentina). The authors found drilling frequencies between 3 and 19% (with an anomalous figure of 36 in an anthropogenically impacted locality) at the assemblage level, but no correlation with water temperature or latitude.…”

Uncovering the holes and cracks: from anecdote to testable hypotheses in predation studies

“…, ), South America (Martinelli et al . ; Visaggi & Kelley ) and Australasia (Tuura et al . ; Hiller ).…”