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Leonard et al 2017 - Epibiotic pressure contributes to biofouling invader success.pdf (1.41 MB)

Epibiotic pressure contributes to biofouling invader success

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posted on 2023-05-19, 07:29 authored by Leonard, K, Hewitt, CL, Campbell, ML, Carmen Primo PerezCarmen Primo Perez, Miller, SD
Reduced competition is a frequent explanation for the success of many introduced species. In benthic marine biofouling communities, space limitation leads to high rates of overgrowth competition. Some species can utilise other living organisms as substrate (epibiosis), proffering a competitive advantage for the epibiont. Additionally, some species can prevent or reduce epibiotic settlement on their surfaces and avoid being basibionts. To test whether epibiotic pressure differs between native and introduced species, we undertook ex situ experiments comparing bryozoan larval settlement to determine if introduced species demonstrate a greater propensity to settle as epibionts, and a reduced propensity to be basibionts, than native species. Here we report that introduced species opportunistically settle on any space (bare, native, or introduced), whereas native species exhibit a strong tendency to settle on and near other natives, but avoid settling on or near introduced basibionts. In addition, larvae of native species experience greater larval wastage (mortality) than introduced species, both in the presence and absence of living substrates. Introduced species’ ability to settle on natives as epibionts, and in turn avoid epibiosis as basibionts, combined with significantly enhanced native larval wastage, provides a comprehensive suite of competitive advantages contributing to the invasion success of these biofouling species.

History

Publication title

Scientific Reports

Volume

7

Article number

5173

Number

5173

Pagination

1-7

ISSN

2045-2322

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Place of publication

4 Crinan St, London, N1 9XW United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 2017 The Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Marine biodiversity

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