Herbivore-Alga Interaction Strength Influences Spatial Heterogeneity in a Kelp-Dominated Intertidal Community.

ABSTRACT: There is a general consensus that marine herbivores can affect algal species composition and abundance, but little empirical work exists on the role of herbivores as modifiers of the spatial structure of resource assemblages. Here, we test the consumption/bulldozing effects of the molluscan grazer Enoplochiton niger and its influence on the spatial structure of a low intertidal community dominated by the bull kelp Durvillaea antarctica and the kelp Lessonia spicata. Through field experiments conducted at a rocky intertidal shore in north-central Chile (~30°-32°S), the edge of the grazer and algae geographic distributions, we estimated the strength and variability of consumptive effects of the grazer on different functional group of algae. We also used data from abundance field surveys to e

SUBMITTER: Aguilera MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4567380 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature