Food selection of a generalist herbivore exposed to native and alien seaweeds.

Autor: Noè S; Department of Earth and Marine Science, University of Palermo, CoNISMa, Via Archirafi 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy., Badalamenti F; National Research Council (CNR)-Institute of Coastal Marine Environment (IAMC), Via G. Da Verrazzano 17, 91014 Castellammare del Golfo, (TP), Italy; Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Integrated Marine Ecology Department, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy., Bonaviri C; Department of Earth and Marine Science, University of Palermo, CoNISMa, Via Archirafi 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: chiabon@libero.it., Musco L; Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Integrated Marine Ecology Department, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy., Fernández TV; Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Integrated Marine Ecology Department, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, Italy; National Research Council (CNR)-Institute of Coastal Marine Environment (IAMC), Calata Porta di Massa, 80133 Naples, Italy., Vizzini S; Department of Earth and Marine Science, University of Palermo, CoNISMa, Via Archirafi 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy., Gianguzza P; Department of Earth and Marine Science, University of Palermo, CoNISMa, Via Archirafi 18, 90123 Palermo, Italy.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Marine pollution bulletin [Mar Pollut Bull] 2018 Apr; Vol. 129 (2), pp. 469-473. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Oct 25.
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.10.015
Abstrakt: Understanding which factors influence the invasion of alien seaweed has become a central concern in ecology. Increasing evidence suggests that the feeding preferences of native herbivores influence the success of alien seaweeds in the new community. We investigated food selection of a generalist native grazer Paracentrotus lividus, in the presence of two alien seaweeds (Caulerpa cylindracea and Caulerpa taxifolia var. distichophylla) and two native seaweeds (Dictyopteris membranacea and Cystoseira compressa). Sea urchins were fed with six experimental food items: C. cylindracea, C. taxifolia var. distichophylla, a mixture of C. cylindracea and C. taxifolia var. distichophylla, D. membranacea, C. compressa and a mixture of D. membranacea and C. compressa. P. lividus ingested all the combinations of food offered, though it preferentially consumed the alien mixture, C. cylindracea and D. membranacea. The alien C. taxifolia var. distichophylla was consumed significantly less than the other food items and, interestingly, it was ingested in a greater amount when mixed with C. cylindracea than when on its own. This finding suggests that C. taxifolia var. distichophylla may become vulnerable to sea urchin grazing when it grows intermingled with C. cylindracea, which does not gain immediate protection from the presence of the very low palatable congeneric seaweed. The present study highlights the potential role of native grazers to indirectly affect the interspecific competition between the two alien seaweeds in the Mediterranean Sea.
(Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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