Spatial associations among palatable and unpalatable macroalgae:
Associational resistance is the process by which plants may gain protection from spatial associations with neighbouring plants. We tested whether association with an unpalatable alga, Dictyopteris acrostichoides, affects the abundance and colonisation behaviour of the herbivorous amphipod Peramphithoe parmerong on its preferred host alga Sargassum linearifolium. Despite predictions, natural densities on S. linearifolium when surrounded by D. acrostichoides were higher than on isolated individuals of S. linearifolium. Colonisation experiments in the laboratory and the field tested the hypotheses that the observed variation in field abundance with algal neighbourhood was due to variation in the size of habitat patches, physical obstruction of host finding by D. acrostichoides and variation in the relative abundance of S. linearifolium and D. acrostichoides. None of these possible mechanisms was found to significantly alter rates of amphipod colonisation on the scales of individuals selecting among algal pieces in the laboratory or among habitat patches in the field. The failure of colonisation processes to explain observed variation in natural amphipod densities suggests that post-colonisation processes such as survival or emigration may vary with the spatial associations among algae. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Publication title
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and EcologyVolume
326Pagination
207-216ISSN
0022-0981Department/School
Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesPublisher
Elsevier Science BvPlace of publication
Po Box 211, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1000 AeRepository Status
- Restricted
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