Beyond the border: effects of an expanding algal habitat on the fauna of neighbouring habitats.

Autor: Lanham BS; Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. Electronic address: brendan.lanham@unsw.edu.au., Gribben PE; Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, School of the Environment, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia., Poore AG; Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Marine environmental research [Mar Environ Res] 2015 May; Vol. 106, pp. 10-8. Date of Electronic Publication: 2015 Feb 24.
DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2015.02.006
Abstrakt: The impacts of novel habitat-forming organisms on associated fauna have been difficult to predict, and may affect the fauna of neighbouring habitats due to changes in the spatial configuration of habitat patches of differing quality. Here, we test whether the localised expansion of a native habitat-forming macroalga, Caulerpa filiformis, on subtidal reefs can affect the abundance of fauna associated with a neighbouring macroalgal habitat. C. filiformis was a functionally distinct habitat for fauna, and the total abundance of epifauna associated with the resident alga, Sargassum linearifolium, was reduced at some sites when in close proximity to or surrounded by C. filiformis. Experimental manipulation of habitat configuration demonstrated that the low abundance of gastropods on S. linearifolium when surrounded by C. filiformis was likely explained by C. filiformis acting as a physical dispersal barrier for mobile fauna. Changes to the spatial configuration of novel and resident habitats can thus affect the abundance of fauna in addition to the direct replacement of habitats by species undergoing range expansions or increasing in abundance.
(Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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