Colonial ascidians strongly preyed upon, yet dominate the substrate in a subtropical fouling community.

ABSTRACT: Higher diversity and dominance at lower latitudes has been suggested for colonial species. We verified this pattern in species richness of ascidians, finding that higher colonial-to-solitary species ratios occur in the tropics and subtropics. At the latitudinal region with the highest ratio, in southeastern Brazil, we confirmed that colonial species dominate space on artificial plates in two independent studies of five fouling communities. We manipulated settlement plates to measure effects of predation and competition on growth and survivorship of colonial versus solitary ascidians. Eight species were subjected to a predation treatment, i.e. caged versus exposed to predators, and a competition treatment, i.e. leaving versus removing competitors, to assess main and interactive effects. Pre

SUBMITTER: Hiebert LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6452077 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature