Habitat structure and complexity as determinants of biodiversity in blue mussel beds on sublittoral rocky shores

Koivisto, Maria; Westerbom, Mats

doi:10.1007/s00227-010-1421-9

Cited by 71 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Tsuchiya & Nishihira 1985, Koivisto & Westerbom 2010), but was not detected in this study. (3) The invertebrate fauna associated with blue mussels is abundant in most habitat types on hard substrates, enforcing the idea that blue mussels are effective ecosystem engineers regardless of their patch context (see Westerbom 2010 andKoivisto et al 2011). The high diversity on stony reefs should also be considered when designing marine protected areas in the northern Baltic Sea since shallow, windy archipelago areas are considered as possible locations for wind energy constructions.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 44%

“…The theory has commonly been found to apply on studies conducted at smaller, within-shore scales (e.g. Tsuchiya & Nishihira 1985, Koivisto & Westerbom 2010), but was not detected in this study. (3) The invertebrate fauna associated with blue mussels is abundant in most habitat types on hard substrates, enforcing the idea that blue mussels are effective ecosystem engineers regardless of their patch context (see Westerbom 2010 andKoivisto et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…The Jussarö area is characterized by dense mussel patches made up of a large portion of small individuals (2 to 10 mm), whereas the populations in the Archipelago Sea have an older mussel structure, made up of proportionately larger mussels, but with a sparser density (Westerbom et al 2002). Blue mussel biomass significantly influences species richness in associated communities (Koivisto & Westerbom 2010). Also, ice conditions are less severe in the Archipelago Sea.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Invertebrate communities associated with blue mussel beds in a patchy environment: a landscape ecology approach

Koivisto¹,

Westerbom²

2012

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Landscape ecology has evolved rapidly as a terrestrial discipline over the past centuries due to an increased concern over habitat loss and fragmentation. Proceedings in the marine realm have been comparatively scarce, even though many key habitats in marine ecosystems are becoming equally fragmented. We sampled the macrofauna associated with blue mussel beds in naturally patchy landscapes of islands and reefs in the non-tidal Baltic Sea and tested for the effect of island area, isolation and reef depth on local species richness and composition. The fauna was also compared among islands and reefs. Contrary to expectations, species richness did not increase with island size, and species diversity was higher on deep reefs compared to shallow reefs and islands protruding from the water. Region and depth also had an effect on species assemblage. Geographical distance to nearest island or reef showed no correlation with species richness but correlated positively with faunal density, i.e. a higher degree of isolation increased density. In accordance with other marine studies, our data, therefore, supports the nearest refuge hypothesis, postulating that mobile invertebrates disperse over areas of non-habitat and then concentrate in isolated habitats because habitats in isolation are the nearest available refuge. We show that terrestrial landscape approaches cannot be directly applied to the study system. This has important implications for the planning of marine protected areas and their management.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 44%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Invertebrate communities associated with blue mussel beds in a patchy environment: a landscape ecology approach

Koivisto¹,

Westerbom²

2012

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Mussels act as keystone species by increasing habitat complexity (Koivisto and Westerbom, 2010), providing a wide range of ecosystem services (Coen et al, 2007) and stabilising the seabed (Jones, 1951;Rees, 2009). Removal of mussels results in a reduction of habitat complexity (Cranfield, 2004;Rees et al, 2008;Seed and Suchanek, 1992;Wildish et al, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying optimal sites for natural recovery and restoration of impacted biogenic habitats in a special area of conservation using hydrodynamic and habitat suitability modelling

Elsäßer

Fariñas‐Franco

Wilson

et al. 2013

Journal of Sea Research

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Publisher rights This is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Sea Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Sea Research, Vol. 77, 03/2013 General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT2 AbstractSelection of sites for successful restoration of impacted shellfish populations depends on understanding the dispersion capability and habitat requirements of the species involved. In Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, the horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus) biogenic reefs cover only a fraction of their historical range with the remaining reefs badly damaged and requiring restoration. Previous experimental trials suggest that translocation of horse mussels accelerate reef recovery and has therefore been proposed as a suitable restoration technique.We used a series of coupled hydrodynamic and particle dispersal models to assess larval dispersion from remnant and translocated populations to identify suitable areas for adult live M. modiolus translocation in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland. A maximum entropy model (MAXENT) was used to identify if dispersing larvae could reach habitat suitable for adult M.modiolus. From these we predicted if translocated mussels will reseed themselves or be able to act as larval sources for nearby reefs. The dispersal models showed that the remnant M.modiolus populations are largely self-recruiting with little connectivity between them. The majority of larvae settled near the sources and movement was largely dependent on the tides and not influenced by wind or waves. Higher reef elevation resulted in larvae been able to disperse further away from the release point. However, larval numbers away from the source population are likely to be too low for successful recruitment. There was also little connectivity between the Irish Sea and Strangford Lough as any larvae entering the Lough remained predominantly in the Strangford Na...

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“…Especially sublittoral blue mussel beds on rocky shores have remained largely unstudied in a patch-architecture-related sense, e.g. the interacting effects of patch size, shape, inpatch location and amount of edge are poorly known (however, see Svane & Setyobudiandi 1996).In the northern Baltic Sea, blue mussels exist at the margin of their distribution, due to the low salinity, where they uphold rich faunal communities despite their small size and fluctuating coverage (Norling & Kautsky 2008, Koivisto & Westerbom 2010. They exhibit natural expansion, fragmentation and contraction due to seasonal growth, die-off, storm events, fluctuating salinity conditions and ice scour (Westerbom et al 2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

Quality or quantity: small-scale patch structure affects patterns of biodiversity in a sublittoral blue mussel community

Koivisto¹,

Westerbom²,

Arnkil³

2011

Aquat. Biol.

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It is widely accepted that blue mussel Mytilus edulis L. beds support a high macrofaunal diversity. Nonetheless, sublittoral mussel beds on rocky shores have rarely been examined in a patch context to determine the processes creating and maintaining the diversity and assemblages of organisms occupying them. Whereas the species-area relationship is a well-established theory in ecology, less is known about its effect on faunal compositions in aquatic habitats. Also, the effect of patch shape and relative patch edge are poorly studied within a rocky shore mussel framework. The present study examined the effects of blue mussel patch size, patch shape, and the presence of algae and sand in mussel patches on the composition and diversity of associated macrofaunal communities in sublittoral habitats. In line with the species-area relationship, we found that the total number of taxa increased with patch size up to ca. 500 cm 2 , thereafter declining. Small patches largely lacked annelid worms and showed a lower diversity of gastropod species. We also found that the diversity was further enhanced by a high biomass of blue mussels, the presence of algae and the weight of interstitial sand. The shape of the patch had no effect on species richness, but affected the species composition. We conclude that structural components of sublittoral blue mussel habitats, such as patch content and shape, greatly affect the diversity and faunal assemblage. This has important implications in conservation biology, since habitats are becoming more fragmented. Our study demonstrates that not only habitat quantity, but also quality has a large impact on species communities in marine ecosystems.KEY WORDS: Species-area relationship · Patch shape · Edge effect · Ecosystem engineer · Rocky shores · Macrofauna · Baltic Sea Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherAquat Biol 12: [261][262][263][264][265][266][267][268][269][270] 2011 experimental evidence confirming this in marine ecosystems.Studies in mussel and seagrass beds suggest that patch size affects the number of taxa present (Tsuchiya & Nishihira 1985, Witman 1985, Bell et al. 2001, Bowden et al. 2001, Norling & Kautsky 2008. Nonetheless, few studies have clearly distinguished its role in determining the faunal communities, and the relationship can sometimes be non-linear and scale dependent (Kelaher 2003). For example, there might be distinct thresholds after which the influence of habitat structure changes in direction and/or magnitude, or there might be a minimum amount of structure that is required before positive benefits are implemented (Coull & Wells 1983, Gotceitas & Colgan 1989. Also, upper thresholds, beyond which increased habitat structure no longer has an effect or even negatively affects the associated fauna, may exist (Fonseca et al. 1996, Kelaher 2003. Not only patch size, but also the architectural complexity (e.g. Kostylev et al. 1997, Commito & Rusi gnuolo 2000, as well as the density and size of the habitat-forming sp...

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Habitat structure and complexity as determinants of biodiversity in blue mussel beds on sublittoral rocky shores

Cited by 71 publications

References 49 publications

Invertebrate communities associated with blue mussel beds in a patchy environment: a landscape ecology approach

Invertebrate communities associated with blue mussel beds in a patchy environment: a landscape ecology approach

Identifying optimal sites for natural recovery and restoration of impacted biogenic habitats in a special area of conservation using hydrodynamic and habitat suitability modelling

Quality or quantity: small-scale patch structure affects patterns of biodiversity in a sublittoral blue mussel community

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