Diversity and abundance of epibiota on invasive and native estuarine gastropods depend on substratum and salinity
Jakob Thyrring A E , Mads Solgaard Thomsen B C , Ane Kirstine Brunbjerg D and Thomas Wernberg C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Arctic Research Centre, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, C. F. Møllers Allé 8, building 1110, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
B Marine Ecology Research Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand.
C UWA Oceans Institute and School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Hackett Drive, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
D School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
E Corresponding author. Email: thyrring@bios.au.dk
Marine and Freshwater Research 66(12) 1191-1200 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF14311
Submitted: 4 October 2014 Accepted: 6 January 2015 Published: 21 May 2015
Abstract
Our understanding of variation in epibiota communities remains incomplete. This study relates such variability to multiple concurrent environmental factors. Specifically we determined the relative importance of salinity, depth, wave exposure, habitat and ‘shell type’ (shell type combined species, size, morphology and mobility traits) for community structure of sessile epibiota on gastropods in the Swan River Estuary, Australia. We quantified distribution, biofouling patterns, and detailed epibiota community structures on gastropod species in the estuary – the native Nassarius pauperatus and Bedeva paiva and the invasive Batillaria australis. The invasive Batillaria was much more abundant, and more biofouled, than any of the native species, thereby supporting orders of magnitude more epibiota in the estuary. Generalised linear models were used to partition variation in richness and abundance of epibiota among the above listed factors. Of the five factors were only shell type and salinity significant in 9 of 14 models. These results highlight (1) that a single invasive species can alter epibiota communities on a large system-wide scale, (2) an overwhelming importance of shell type and salinity in explaining estuarine epibiota communities, and (3) that additional environmental factors need to be included in future studies to improve predictive models of distribution for epibiota communities.
Additional keywords: Batillaria, biodiversity, epibiosis, fouling, Gracilaria, invasive species.
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