Many terrestrial plant and marine benthic communities involve intense competition for space as a means to survive and reproduce. Superior competitors can dominate other species numerically with high reproductive rates, indirectly with high growth rates that facilitate space acquisition, or directly with competitive overgrowth. To assess how climate change could affect competitive interactions, we examined latitudinal patterns in growth rates and overgrowth competition via field surveys and experiments with marine epibenthic communities. Epibenthic fouling communities are dominated by invasive tunicates, bryozoans, and other species that grow on docks, boats, and other artificial structures. Fouling communities are space limited, so growth rate and overgrowth competition play an important role in shaping abundance patterns. We experimentally assessed temperature-dependent growth rates of several tunicates and bryozoans in eight regions spanning the U.S. east and west coasts. Several species displayed positive growth responses to warmer temperature in the northern portions of their latitudinal ranges, and vice versa. We used photo surveys of floating docks in at least 16 harbors in each region to compare communities and overgrowth competition. There was a strong correlation across species and regions between growth rate and competitive ability, indicating that growth plays an important role in competitive outcomes. Because growth rates are typically temperature dependent for organisms that compete for space, including terrestrial plants, fungi, algae, bacteria, and sessile benthic organisms, global warming could affect competitive outcomes. Our results suggest that these competitive shifts can be predicted by species' relative growth rates and latitudinal ranges.
The response of the eastern oyster C. virginica to the presence of the oyster drill Urosalpinx cinerea was examined from July to September 2011. Several aspects of oyster growth were measured, including wet weight, shell weight, and dorsal shell area for oysters collected near Groton, Connecticut (41.32036 N, ¡72.06330 W). Wet weight and shell weight growth were signiWcantly higher in the presence of the predator U. cinerea, while tissue weight showed no diVerence from the control. The control group showed more shell area growth and a much lower ratio of shell weight growth to shell area growth. DiVerences in shell weight to area ratio indicated that C. virginica dramatically shifted from lateral shell growth to shell thickening in the presence of U. cinerea. This inducible defense has not been previously shown for C. virginica and could play an important role in the predator-prey interaction between these two species.
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