Analysis of competitive interactions between the limpets Patella depressa Pennant and Patella vulgata L. on the northern coast of Portugal

Boaventura, Diana; Fonseca, Luı́s Cancela da; Hawkins, Stephen J.

doi:10.1016/s0022-0981(02)00044-8

Cited by 62 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Mortality in limpet populations due to crab predation has previously been shown at the lower shore at Mount Batten (Silva et al 2008), a shore used in the present study, and in this region, crabs have been shown to attack limpets frequently (Thompson et al 2000). This may also influence intra-specific competition for space or food resources among these grazers (Boaventura et al 2002).…”

Section: Gastropodssupporting

confidence: 60%

Use of the intertidal zone by mobile predators: influence of wave exposure, tidal phase and elevation on abundance and diet

Silva¹,

Hawkins²,

Boaventura³

et al. 2010

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Linkages between predators and their prey across the subtidal-intertidal boundary remain relatively unexplored. The influence of tidal phase, tidal height and wave exposure on the abundance, population structure and stomach contents of mobile predatory crabs was examined on rocky shores in southwest Britain. Crabs were sampled both during the day and at night using traps deployed at high tide and by direct observation during low tide. Carcinus maenas (L.), Necora puber (L.) and Cancer pagurus (L.) were the most abundant species, being mainly active during nocturnal high tides. C. maenas was the only species that was active during nocturnal low tides, when it was observed mainly on the lower shore feeding on limpets. Individuals of all 3 species sampled during high tide were considerably larger than those sampled during low tide. Thus, sampling crab populations at low tide is likely to underestimate abundance and the extent of predation by crabs on rockyshore assemblages. During immersion, the relative abundance of each species was influenced by exposure to wave action and tidal elevation. All species were more abundant on the lower shore; C. maenas and N. puber were more abundant in sheltered locations, while C. pagurus was more abundant in exposed locations. Analyses of stomach contents from individuals captured at high tide revealed that chitons and limpets were the most common hard-shell prey taxa in the diet of these predators. The relative abundance of prey in gut contents was, however, not correlated with patterns of prey abundance. Our study indicates the importance of crabs as key intertidal predators and illustrates the strong trophic linkages between the subtidal and intertidal zones, which is likely to be a key factor influencing community structure on European shores.

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Section: Gastropodssupporting

confidence: 60%

Use of the intertidal zone by mobile predators: influence of wave exposure, tidal phase and elevation on abundance and diet

Silva¹,

Hawkins²,

Boaventura³

et al. 2010

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Patellid species can differ significantly in the effectiveness in which they control macroalgae. For example, Moore et al (2007) showed that P. vulgata was a more effective grazer than P. depressa in southwest Britain, although in Portugal both species had similar strengths (Boaventura et al 2002). In the Azores, there is no evidence to conclude that the 2 species of limpets differ in terms of diet, and future studies should therefore examine this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both species co-occur in the intertidal, where their density is maximal at mid-shore levels , Martins et al 2008. Differences in the abundance between the 2 species could be the result of natural processes such as inter-specific competition (Boaventura et al 2002). However, it is unlikely that natural processes alone could have caused the absence of P. aspera at 3 islands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploitation of rocky intertidal grazers: population status and potential impacts on community structure and functioning

Martins¹,

Jenkins²,

Hawkins³

et al. 2008

Aquat. Biol.

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A wide range of anthropogenic activities are impacting the ecology of coastal areas. Exploitation of marine resources is one such activity, which, through cascading trophic effects, can have influences well beyond that of the target species. We investigated the mid-rocky-shore community structure of the Azores archipelago, a seldom-studied habitat, where there is a local tradition of exploiting limpets, the main intertidal grazers. The limpet population structure differed among islands, and there was an inverse relationship between the abundance of larger limpets and the human population per coastal perimeter, but not the associated catch data. At small scales of resolution (quadrats), there was a negative relationship between the cover of algae and limpets and a positive relationship between barnacles and limpets. These relationships were also apparent at the larger scale of islands as a function of the gradient of exploitation. Our results show how natural habitat fragmentation may be useful where the experimental testing of a hypothesis is not possible, and provide evidence for the trophic cascading effects of limpet exploitation at landscape scales.

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“…However, the opposite was observed for the density of the juveniles found in the sublittoral fringe. Intraspecific competition normally occurs in the rocky intertidal environment when space or food resources are not enough or when recruitment occurs in high densities leading to crowding (Boaventura et al, 2002b). Due to the organic enrichment near the sewage discharges, the competition should be mainly for space.…”

Section: Eulittoralmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of sewage pollution on the structure of rocky shore macroinvertebrate assemblages

et al. 2013

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The urgency to find efficient indices and indicators to prevent further deterioration of coastal areas is one of the hot topics in today's scientific publication. However, a detailed knowledge of community responses to anthropogenic impacts is essential to sustain those indices. The studies on the response of benthic community to sewage pollution on intertidal rocky shores are generally based on visual census and do not take into account the tidal levels. In order to fulfil this gap in this study: (i) the sampling was performed by destructive sampling, with all individuals identified to the species level; (ii) the sampling was done at all levels of the intertidal (sublittoral fringe, eulittoral, and littoral fringe). Sewage pollution changed the environmental variables and the abundance of macroinvertebrates, being Mytilus galloprovincialis, Melarhaphe neritoides, and Chthamalus montagui the species most responsible for the dissimilarities observed. Effects were different on the three intertidal zones: community structure changed in the sublittoral fringe; suspensionfeeders abundances and species richness increased in the eulittoral; no differences were detected in the littoral fringe. Moreover, the results confirm that the presence of sewage discharges tended to benefit suspension feeders, and that the sensitive species were replaced by opportunistic ones.

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Analysis of competitive interactions between the limpets Patella depressa Pennant and Patella vulgata L. on the northern coast of Portugal

Cited by 62 publications

References 28 publications

Use of the intertidal zone by mobile predators: influence of wave exposure, tidal phase and elevation on abundance and diet

Use of the intertidal zone by mobile predators: influence of wave exposure, tidal phase and elevation on abundance and diet

Exploitation of rocky intertidal grazers: population status and potential impacts on community structure and functioning

Effects of sewage pollution on the structure of rocky shore macroinvertebrate assemblages

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