Effects of Rock Type and Food Availability on Bioerosion by the Purple Sea Urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus.

ABSTRACT: Purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) profoundly impact nearshore rocky coasts through their feeding habits. Their intense grazing sculpts substrates through bioerosion using their teeth and spines and controls the alternative stable state dynamic between kelp bed and urchin barrens. These states have contrasting food availability for sea urchins, with abundant food in kelp beds and scarce food in barren grounds. However, the relationship between food availability and bioerosion is unknown. We predicted that when kelp is available, it would ameliorate the action of teeth on the substrate. Our 11-week long, 2 × 2 factorial experiment, crossed community state (kelp present vs absent) and rock type (sandstone vs mudstone). We also quantified the contribution of spine abrasion to

SUBMITTER: Troha LU 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11659677 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature