Predation: a regulating force of intertidal assemblages on the central Portuguese coast?

Brazão, Sónia; Silva, A.; Boaventura, Diana

doi:10.1017/s0025315409000757

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Therefore, natural mortality appears to play a minor role in determining the observed fluctuations in limpet abundance and size. This observation is in line with other studies that did not detect a strong influence of natural predation on limpet population sizes, as observed for instance for P. depressa along the coast of Portugal (Brazão et al, 2009;Silva et al, 2004). Further studies specifically designed to assess the intensity of natural predation in the study area would be useful to confirm this hypothesis.…”

Section: The Role Of Natural Predatorssupporting

confidence: 91%

The exploitation of limpets in a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area: assessing the effectiveness of protection in the intertidal zone

et al. 2017

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Limpets are intertidal keystone grazers and their overexploitation could have significant consequences for intertidal communities. Limpets are harvested around the Sinis Peninsula (Sardinia, Italy) but harvesting is prohibited within the "Penisola del Sinis -Isola di Mal di Ventre" Marine Protected Area (MPA). This work assesses the effects of human harvesting on the population dynamics of three common Mediterranean species of Patella, namely, P. rustica, P. caerulea and P. ulyssiponensis, testing the effectiveness of the MPA and the role of site accessibility in limiting the intensity of such harvesting pressure. In the period between June 2015 and August 2016, limpet abundance and size were recorded on a monthly basis by means of photographic frames within linear transects at ten sites spread out along the coastline of the Sinis Peninsula to assess growth and temporal patterns. Limpets older than two years are extremely rare in the study area. Limpets are more abundant within the MPA in comparison with non-protected areas and within less accessible sites in comparison with areas where the intertidal zone is easily accessible from land. Despite this, overall human-induced mortality in the area is high, indeed the pool of limpets observed with a mean density of 104.3 ± 9.7 limpets/m 2 during the first survey was reduced by 99.2% in less than one year. This work demonstrates that human harvesting strongly affects the population dynamics of Patella species in the area and that within the MPA this stressor is not efficiently reduced.

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Section: The Role Of Natural Predatorssupporting

confidence: 91%

The exploitation of limpets in a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area: assessing the effectiveness of protection in the intertidal zone

et al. 2017

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“…Indeed, using predatorexclusion experiments, Silva et al (2008) observed a significant reduction of limpet densities when crabs predation was occurring. Conversely, Brazão et al (2009) failed to detect a significant effect from E.…”

Section: Predatory Behavior Of the Crab Eriphia Verrucosamentioning

confidence: 80%

“…According to the food habits of this intertidal predator (Rossi and Parisi 1973;Brazão et al 2009;Silva et al 2010), six prey species were chosen as potential food items. The oyster Magallana angulata (Lamarck, 1819), the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819 and the limpet Patella depressa Pennant, 1777 were used in representation of sessile preys, and the hermit crab Clibanarius erythropus (Latreille, 1818), the toothed top shell Phorcus lineatus (da Costa, 1778) and the rock sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) as representatives of vagile prey.…”

Section: Target Species and Sampling Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Predation has long been recognized as an important biological force driving community patterns in intertidal rocky shores throughout the world (Paine, 1974;Brazão et al, 2009). Crabs are highly mobile and are known to have an important role in structuring assemblages on rocky shores worldwide (Behrens Yamada and Boulding, 1996;Rilov and Schiel, 2006;Silva et al, 2008;Forsstrom et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, as for Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758), Pachygrapsus marmoratus (Fabricius, 1787) and other stone crabs, the abundance of E. verrucosa in different intertidal zones may depend on the availability of suitable rock crevices and/or stones for them to use as shelter, as well as of their spacing, since its aggressive behavior prevents the sharing of a common refuge or very close refuges among two or more individuals (Beck, 1995;Flores and Paula, 2001). Additionally, human activity in the intertidal zone may reduce the population of this predator species by antropogenic impact, both direct (capture of crabs as bait and for human consumption) and indirect (overturning of rocks and trampling over crabs and their shelters when walking in these zones) (Flores and Paula, 2001;Smith and Murray, 2005;Brazão et al, 2009). In this sense, the shore of the Gulf of Cadiz (Southwestern of Iberian Peninsula) features long stretches of sandy beaches, which are used by a large numbers of tourists (Brosnan and Crumrine, 1994;Addison et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experimental predatory behavior of the stone crab Eriphia verrucosa (Forskål, 1775) (Decapoda, Brachyura, Eriphiidae)

2017

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Predatory behavior of the crab Eriphia verrucosa (Forskål, 1775) on the oyster Magallana angulata (Lamarck, 1819), the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, 1819, the limpet Patella depressa Pennant, 1777, the hermit crab Clibanarius erythropus (Latreille, 1818), the gastropod Phorcus lineatus (da Costa, 1778) and the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) was experimentally studied. Taken into account that the sampled population of E. verrucosa was infected with the parasitic barnacle Sacculina eriphiae Smith, 1906, four predator categories were established regarding crab sex and parasite presence: uninfected and infected males and females, respectively. Th ese four crab categories were fed on the six preys off ered, but prey remains suggest that the crab obtains the fl esh of each prey using diff erent methods of att ack. Irrespective of the prey species, uninfected females consistently presented lower percentages of crab feeding and total consumption. On average, it was found that a signifi cantly higher percentage of crabs feed on M. galloprovincialis, P. depressa and Ph. lineatus than on the other three prey species (chi-squared test, p < 0.05). In terms of mean eaten biomass, the preys most eaten were P. lividus and P. depressa and the least eaten was C. erythropus (ANOVA test, p < 0.05). For crabs feeding on M. galloprovincialis and Ph. lineatus there was a significant positive correlation (p < 0.05) between the predator size and prey size, as well as between the predator size and total prey consumption. According to these results, potential effects of this top predator on intertidal communities are also discussed.

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Repair scars preserve decadal‐scale patterns of predation intensity despite short‐term ecological disturbances

Tyler

Molinaro

Mendonca

et al. 2019

Aquatic Conservation

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Recent ecological disturbances have dramatically altered the composition of rocky intertidal Pacific coast communities of North America, particularly top invertebrate predators. Predation is an important regulatory force on intertidal gastropod communities, and the depletion or loss of predators is therefore likely to have a considerable community‐wide short‐term impact. However, assessing the magnitude and nature of the resulting ecological changes may be problematic in the absence of data recording pre‐disturbance conditions. Here, the effectiveness of traces of unsuccessful crab predation on gastropod shells at providing a long‐term, decadal record of predation intensity in Barkley Sound (Vancouver Island, British Columbia) was evaluated subsequent to multiple large‐scale ecological disturbances, including sea star wasting disease, abnormally high sea surface temperatures, and harmful algal blooms. The frequency of failed crab attacks recorded by repair scars on six populations of the intertidal gastropod Tegula funebralis were surveyed to compare spatial patterns in predation intensity before and after disturbance (2013 and 2015 respectively). The repair frequency gradient observed in 2013 was also recorded by repair scars in 2015 (Spearman's ρ = 1, P = 0.002), and repair frequency was not affected by gastropod size in either 2013 (Spearman's ρ = 0.14, P = 0.80) or 2015 (Spearman's ρ = 0.66, P = 0.18). These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that repair frequency provides decadal records of predation intensity and may be effective to establish persistent levels of predation intensity prior to disturbances in rocky intertidal habitats.

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Predation: a regulating force of intertidal assemblages on the central Portuguese coast?

Cited by 13 publications

References 53 publications

The exploitation of limpets in a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area: assessing the effectiveness of protection in the intertidal zone

The exploitation of limpets in a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area: assessing the effectiveness of protection in the intertidal zone

Experimental predatory behavior of the stone crab Eriphia verrucosa (Forskål, 1775) (Decapoda, Brachyura, Eriphiidae)

Repair scars preserve decadal‐scale patterns of predation intensity despite short‐term ecological disturbances

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