Epibiosis in sedimentary coastal environments: Effects of an introduced barnacle on a native mussel

Abstract

The way in which organisms use space defines and structures their communities, many of those being characterized by a low number of dominant taxa that determine the physical structure of the habitat (e.g., tropical forests, grasslands, and coral reefs; Menge & Sutherland, 1987;Angelini et al., 2011). In sedimentary intertidal environments, the availability of substrate for sessile species is limited and mytilids most likely play a key role by providing a suitable substrate for opportunist colonizers to settle, including non-native species colonizing new habitats (