Edge effects reverse facilitation by a widespread foundation species.

ABSTRACT: Dense aggregations of foundation species often mitigate environmental stresses for organisms living among them. Considerable work documents such benefits by comparing conditions inside versus outside these biogenic habitats. However, environmental gradients commonly arise across the extent of even single patches of habitat-forming species, including cases where stresses diverge between habitat interiors and edges. We ask here whether such edge effects could alter how habitat-forming species influence residents, potentially changing the strength or direction of interactions (i.e., from stress amelioration to exacerbation). We take as a model system the classic marine foundation species, Mytilus californianus, the California mussel. Results demonstrate that mussel beds both increase and decr

SUBMITTER: Jurgens LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5120328 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature