The Benthic Ecology of False Bay

A synthesis of three decades of socio-ecological change in False Bay, South Africa: setting the scene for multidisciplinary research and management

“…15 km 2 to 5.4 km 2 , which at present comprise intertidal saltmarsh (0.12 km 2 ), supratidal saltmarsh (0.02 km 2 ), reeds and sedges (1.07 km 2 ), sand and mud banks (0.21 km 2 ), and open water area (4 km 2 ). Few detailed ecological studies have focused on these estuaries in the past 25 years (Quick and Harding, 1994;McQuaid and Griffiths, 2014), yet significantly more is known now than what was documented in the last comprehensive review of False Bay estuaries (Morant, 1991). Due to their small size, the False Bay estuaries only support a limited number of fish species, ranging from 2 to 40 in the Elsies and Zandvlei, respectively (Brown and Magoba, 2009;van Niekerk et al, 2015;Department of Water and Sanitation, 2016).…”

Nutritional ecology of the ascidian Pyura stolonifera: influence of body size, food quantity and quality on filter-feeding, respiration, assimilation efficiency and energy balance

“…The closely related species from Australasia (P. praeputialis) and Chile (P. chilensis) occupy the same niche at great density over vast stretches of coastline (Dakin et al, 1948;Millar, 1971). Past studies on P. stolonifera have been concerned with ecology (Morgans, 1959;Day, 1969Day, , 1974, morphology, functional anatomy (Day, 1974), larval development (Griffiths, 1975), biomass and production (Van Driel, 1978;Field et al, 1980a;Beny, 1982). Stuart and Klumpp (1984) examined particle size selection in P. stolonifera and other dominant filter feeders of the kelp beds.…”