Succession-driven facilitation of macrofaunal communities in sublittoral blue mussel habitats

Koivisto, Maria; Westerbom, Mats; Riihimäki, Anu

doi:10.1007/s00227-010-1621-3

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 44 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: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…So far, our understanding of the dynamics of biologically engineered patches such as blue mussel communities, seagrass beds or corals has been largely derived from studies conducted at small spatial scales where the bioengineered patches typically function as insular habitats for faunal communities. On a within-shore scale, patch size, body size or height and density, as well as patch shape have all been found to influence some associated communities (Tsuchiya & Nishihira 1986, Ragnarsson & Raffaelli 1999, Bologna & Heck 2002, Irving & Bertness 2009, Koivisto et al 2011. Also, patch context and surrounding matrix influence faunal assemblages both in terrestrial and marine systems (Mazerolle & Villard 1999, Ricketts 2001.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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Section: Resale or Republication Not Permitted Without Written Consenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…was, indeed, related to the amount of organic content, as seen in the stepwise linear regression model, where it was recognized as one of the explaining variables. The abundance of gastropods and periwinkles has also been shown to decrease with higher architectural complexity in mussel beds (Kostylev 1996, Kostylev et al 1997, Koivisto et al 2011. In-patch location in fluenced species richness, where higher species richness was associated with the interior parts of patches.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…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 species itself has been shown to influence the diversity and abundance of associated species (Tsuchiya & Nishihira 1986, Palomo et al 2007, O'Connor & Crowe 2007, Koivisto et al 2011.On structurally simple substrates, such as bare sand or rocky substrates, blue mussels Mytilus edulis L. aggregate into patches and provide the surrounding habitat with complex physical structures, covering a broad spectrum of mussel size compositions, patch sizes and vast areal coverage. The mussel structures promote the existence of rich faunal communities by providing settling substrate (Dayton 1971, Laihonen & Furman 1986, Kostylev 1996, food and shelter (Ragnarsson & Raffaelli 1999) and by modulating the hydrodynamic forces within and above the patches (Kautsky & Wallentinus 1980), thereby functioning as ecosystem engineers (sensu Jones et al 1997).…”

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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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Wave stress and biotic facilitation drive community composition in a marginal hard‐bottom ecosystem

et al. 2019

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Ecological patterns are inherently scale‐dependent and driven by the interplay of abiotic gradients and biotic processes. Despite the fundamental importance of such gradients, there are many gaps in our understanding of how abiotic stress gradients interplay with biotic processes and how these collectively affect species distributions. Using a hierarchical design, we sampled two communities separated by depth along wave exposure and salinity gradients to elucidate how these two gradients affect species composition in habitats formed by the foundation species Mytilus trossulus and Fucus vesiculosus. Specifically, we looked at the impacts of regional salinity and temperature, local wave exposure, and site‐dependent facilitation effects on the associated community composition. Wave exposure was the best predictor for species assembly structure, which was also affected by Mytilus biomass and by salinity and water temperature. While the tested variables provided robust explanations for community structure and density, they did not provide conclusive explanations for variation in species richness or evenness. Mytilus biomass had a stronger effect on the associated community with increasing wave exposure at the deeper depth, but the patterns were less obvious at the shallower depth. The latter was also the case for Fucus. These findings comply partly with theoretical predictions suggesting stronger facilitation effects in physically harsh environments. Our results indicate that environmental drivers are the main structuring forces that affect species assembly structure, but also foundation species are important. Thus, predicting changes in species distributions and biodiversity requires the simultaneous consideration of environmental gradients, as well as the structure and composition of foundation species and the interplay between these factors. This work advances our understanding of the processes that modulate species distributions in a marginal marine area and broadens the knowledge of how biological and environmental factors interplay and have an influence on hard‐bottom community structure in brackish water seas.

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Succession-driven facilitation of macrofaunal communities in sublittoral blue mussel habitats

Cited by 19 publications

References 44 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

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

Wave stress and biotic facilitation drive community composition in a marginal hard‐bottom ecosystem

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