Predicting rates of consumer-mediated nutrient cycling by a diverse herbivore assemblage

Oates, Jill M.; Badten, Alexander J; Bernatchez, Geneviève

doi:10.1007/s00227-018-3422-z

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 41 publications

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“…Over evolutionary time, chitons evolved to occupy a variety of ecological niches, from shallow intertidal zones to deep sea environments (Saito et al ., 2008; Gagnon et al ., 2012; Sigwart, 2017; Mercegue et al ., 2021). They play an important role in controlling algal growth which makes them an important part of many marine food webs (Littler et al ., 1995; Bracken et al ., 2018). Even though they are primarily herbivorous, several different organisms or even substratum particles may be found in their gut content (Sigwart & Schwabe, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofluorescence reveals hidden patterns in chitons with implications to visual ecology

Grimaldi,

Guidi,

Jardim

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Biofluorescence is apparently widespread in the tree of life. Fluorescence has the potential to contribute to the totality of light leaving an organism’s surface and will therefore circumscribe how an individual could be detected and discriminated by their visual predators. Here, we: (i) documented the first record of biofluorescence on polyplacophorans, (ii) spectrally characterized the biofluorescence on shells of living chitons, (iii) measured the colour patch pattern variation, (iv) separated the colour of their shells into their reflectance and fluorescence components, and (v) combined these data with field measurements to calculate perceptual distance in chromatic and achromatic contrasts based on the visual system of their major visually guided predators. We found a red biofluorescence that enhances the brightness of chiton shells, along with a correlation showing that as individuals grow larger, the fluorescing surface area becomes smaller. Our visual models suggest that fluorescence decreases the achromatic contrast of chitons against their naturally fluorescent substrates for most visual predators, making them less noticeable to specific predators. Our results support the potential visual functionality of biofluorescence and open new hypotheses regarding its ecological roles to further investigations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofluorescence reveals hidden patterns in chitons with implications to visual ecology

Grimaldi,

Guidi,

Jardim

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Unraveling the multiple facilitative effects of consumers on marine primary producers

Bracken,

Bernatchez,

Badten

et al. 2024

Ecology

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The loss of consumers threatens the integrity of ecological systems, but the mechanisms underlying the effects on communities and ecosystems remain difficult to predict. This is, in part, due to the complex roles that consumers play in those systems. Here, we highlight this complexity by quantifying two mechanisms by which molluscan grazers—typically thought of as consumers of their algal resources—facilitate algae on rocky shores. Initial observations in high‐zone tide pools revealed that both water‐column ammonium concentrations and photosynthetic biomass were higher in pools containing higher densities of grazers, suggesting that local‐scale nutrient recycling by the grazers could be enhancing algal biomass. We assessed this possibility by experimentally manipulating grazer abundances at the level of whole tide pools but controlling access of those grazers to experimental plots within each pool. Contrary to predictions that algal biomass inside grazer exclusions would increase as grazer abundances in the pools increased, we found that algal biomass inside grazer‐exclusion fences was unaffected by grazer abundances. Instead, the consumptive effects of grazers that were evident at low grazer abundances transitioned to facilitative effects as experimentally manipulated grazer abundances increased. This finding suggested that these positive interactions were associated with the physical presence of grazers and not just grazers' effects on nutrient availability. Subsequent experiments highlighted the potential role of “slime”—the pedal mucous trails left behind as the mollusks crawl on the substratum—in promoting the recruitment of algae and thereby mediating a spatial subsidy of new organic matter into the system. Furthermore, different grazer groups contributed disproportionately to ammonium excretion (i.e., turban snails) versus slime production (i.e., littorine snails), suggesting a potential role for grazer diversity. Our work highlights the complex ways in which consumers affect their resources, including multiple, complementary mechanisms by which these grazers facilitate the algae they consume.

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Predicting rates of consumer-mediated nutrient cycling by a diverse herbivore assemblage

Cited by 2 publications

References 41 publications

Biofluorescence reveals hidden patterns in chitons with implications to visual ecology

Biofluorescence reveals hidden patterns in chitons with implications to visual ecology

Unraveling the multiple facilitative effects of consumers on marine primary producers

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