Title
Turban Snails as Habitat for Foliose Algae: Contrasting Geographical Patterns in Species Richness
Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
CSIRO Publishing
Faculty
Computing, Health and Science
School
Natural Sciences/Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research
RAS ID
10751
Abstract
Understanding patterns of species richness is a major goal for ecologists, especially in space-limited habitats where many organisms live on top of others (epibiosis, e.g. by algae growing on gastropods in marine environments). We tested the hypotheses that species richness of epiflora on the gastropod Turbo torquatus would not differ between regions with similarly rich algal floras, and that epifloral richness would increase with increasing gastropod size. Macroalgal floras of Hamelin Bay (HB), Marmion (M), Jurien Bay (JB) and Kalbarri (K), Western Australia, ranged from ~20 to 40 species reef–1 (JB = HB = M ≥ K). Epiflora on small T. torquatus (shell area <150>cm2) did not differ among regions but epifloral richness increased with increasing basibiont size. Large T. torquatus (>150 cm2) were only found in Hamelin Bay and Marmion, where epifloral richness differed substantially. Epifloral richness was positively related to basibiont size in Marmion but not in Hamelin Bay. However, densities of patellid limpets on large T. torquatus were ~4× higher in Hamelin Bay than in Marmion, implying that limpet grazing suppresses epifloral richness. Epifloral richness on turbinids is not simply associated with regional species pools or gastropod size; rather, biological interactions at the scale of individual basibionts apparently govern broad scale patterns of epibiosis.
Comments
This article was originally published as: Wernberg, T., Tuya, F. , Thomsen, M. , & Kendrick, G. (2010). Turban snails as habitat for foliose algae: contrasting geographical patterns in species richness. Marine and Freshwater Research, 61(11), 1237-1242. Original article available here