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Gammarid amphipods and littorinid snails have significant but different effects on algal succession in littoral fringe tidepools

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-25, 23:47 authored by Parker, T, Craig JohnsonCraig Johnson, Chapman, ARO
Tests on the effects of two herbivore groups (littorinid snails and gammarid amphipods), on algal succession in high intertidal tidepools dominated by Fucus distichus showed that the grazer groups exert different grazing pressures on the algae. The differences can be related to the feeding morphologies of the two grazer guilds. The scraping, microphagous littorinid snails prevent the establishment of both micro- and macroalgae at the microscopic level. The biting, macrophagous gammarid amphipods are ineffective at grazing microalgae and prostrate macroalgae from the substratum, but exert a considerable influence on the erect macroalgae which escape littorinid grazing. Despite differences in feeding mechanisms, the magnitude of the effect of the two grazer groups on the canopy cover of macroalgae is similar.

History

Publication title

Ophelia

Volume

38

Article number

2

Number

2

Pagination

69-88

ISSN

0078-5326

Publication status

  • Published

Repository Status

  • Restricted

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