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Native ecosystem engineer facilitates recruitment of invasive crab and native invertebrates

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-18, 23:10 authored by Jeffrey WrightJeffrey Wright, Gribben, PE, Latzel, S
Native ecosystem engineers that add physical structure to ecosystems can facilitate invasive species. In this study we determined the effects of the native tube-forming serpulid worm, Galeolaria caespitose on the recruitment of the invasive New Zealand porcelain crab, Petrolisthes elongatus, and whether invasive crab recruitment was related to the recruitment of native species. P. elongatus is abundant beneath intertidal rocks around Tasmania, southern Australia, and the underside of these rocks is usually covered with a calcareous matrix formed by the serpulid. We used an experimental approach to investigate whether rocks, serpulids on the underside of rocks and adult P. elongatus influenced the recruitment P. elongatus and native communities. P. elongatus and native invertebrates only recruited in the presence of rocks indicating the importance of rock as primary recruitment habitat. Moreover, the presence of serpulids on the underside of rocks significantly increased the recruitment of P. elongatus and native invertebrates compared to rocks without serpulids. Rocks with higher densities of adult P. elongatus at the end of the experiment also had higher densities of P. elongatus recruits. The density of P. elongatus recruits did not influence native species richness and abundance although there was some evidence that high P. elongatus recruitment was correlated with shifts in native community structure. We have shown that a native ecosystem engineer facilitates recruitment of an invasive crab but this does not appear to influence the recruitment of native species.

History

Publication title

Biological Invasions

Volume

18

Issue

11

Pagination

3163-3173

ISSN

1387-3547

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Springer Netherlands

Place of publication

Netherlands

Rights statement

Copyright Springer International Publishing Switzerland

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Assessment and management of terrestrial ecosystems