Turban snails as habitat for foliose algae: contrasting geographical patterns in species richness
Thomas Wernberg A B C G , Fernando Tuya C D E , Mads S. Thomsen C F and Gary A. Kendrick AA School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
B Australian Institute of Marine Science, Oceans Institute, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
C Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia.
D CIIMAR, Rua dos Bragas, 289-4050-123, Porto, Portugal.
E BIOGES, Department of Biology, University of Las Palmas, Las Palmas 35010, Spain.
F Marine Department, National Environmental Research Institute, University of Aarhus, P.O. Box 4000, Roskilde, Denmark.
G Corresponding author. Email: thomas.wernberg@uwa.edu.au
Marine and Freshwater Research 61(11) 1237-1242 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF09184
Submitted: 20 July 2009 Accepted: 21 May 2010 Published: 16 November 2010
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.
Additional keywords: epibiosis, grazing, Turbinid snails, Turbo torquatus, Western Australia.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a Discovery grant from the Australian Research Council to T.W. and G.A.K. (DP0555929). M.S.T. was partially funded by the Danish Research Academy. We thank K. Cook for field assistance and D. Abdo for help with measuring Turbo surface areas. We also thank the Editor (A. Boulton), an Associate Editor, A. Davis, and an anonymous reviewer for comments that have improved the manuscript.
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