The density and spatial arrangement of the invasive oyster Crassostrea gigas determines its impact on settlement of native oyster larvae.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how the density and spatial arrangement of invaders is critical to developing management strategies of pest species. The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, has been translocated around the world for aquaculture and in many instances has established wild populations. Relative to other species of bivalve, it displays rapid suspension feeding, which may cause mortality of pelagic invertebrate larvae. We compared the effect on settlement of Sydney rock oyster, Saccostrea glomerata, larvae of manipulating the spatial arrangement and density of native S. glomerata, and non-native C. gigas. We hypothesized that while manipulations of dead oysters would reveal the same positive relationship between attachment surface area and S. glomerata settlement between the two species, manipulat

SUBMITTER: Wilkie EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3892352 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature