TY - JOUR

T1 - Epibenthic predators control mobile macrofauna associated with a foundation species in a subarctic subtidal community

AU - Yakovis, Eugeniy

AU - Artemieva, Anna

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Foundation species (FS) are strong facilitators providing habitat for numerous dependent organisms. The communities shaped by FS are commonly structured by interplay of facilitation and consumer control. Predators or grazers often indirectly determine community structure eliminating either FS or their principal competitors. Alternatively, they can prey on the dependent taxa directly, which is generally buffered by FS via forming complex habitats with numerous refuges. The latter case has been never investigated at high latitudes, where consumer control is widely considered weak. We manipulated the presence of common epibenthic crustacean predators to assess their effect on mobile macrofauna of the clusters developed by a FS (barnacle Balanus crenatus and its empty tests) in the White Sea shallow subtidal (65° N). While predation pressure on the FS itself here is low, the direct effects of a spider crab Hyas araneus and a shrimp Spirontocaris phippsii on the associated assemblages were unexpectedly strong. Removing the predators did not change species diversity, but tripled total abundance and altered multivariate community structure specifically increasing the numbers of amphipods, isopods (only affected by shrimp), and bivalves. Consumer control in the communities shaped by FS may not strictly follow the latitudinal predation gradient rule.

AB - Foundation species (FS) are strong facilitators providing habitat for numerous dependent organisms. The communities shaped by FS are commonly structured by interplay of facilitation and consumer control. Predators or grazers often indirectly determine community structure eliminating either FS or their principal competitors. Alternatively, they can prey on the dependent taxa directly, which is generally buffered by FS via forming complex habitats with numerous refuges. The latter case has been never investigated at high latitudes, where consumer control is widely considered weak. We manipulated the presence of common epibenthic crustacean predators to assess their effect on mobile macrofauna of the clusters developed by a FS (barnacle Balanus crenatus and its empty tests) in the White Sea shallow subtidal (65° N). While predation pressure on the FS itself here is low, the direct effects of a spider crab Hyas araneus and a shrimp Spirontocaris phippsii on the associated assemblages were unexpectedly strong. Removing the predators did not change species diversity, but tripled total abundance and altered multivariate community structure specifically increasing the numbers of amphipods, isopods (only affected by shrimp), and bivalves. Consumer control in the communities shaped by FS may not strictly follow the latitudinal predation gradient rule.

KW - barnacles

KW - community structure

KW - crabs

KW - crustacea

KW - facilitation

KW - foundation species

KW - high-latitude systems

KW - mobile invertebrates

KW - predation

KW - shrimp

KW - BARNACLES

KW - RECRUITMENT

KW - CLYDE SEA AREA

KW - CORAL-REEF FISH

KW - SCAVENGING INVERTEBRATES

KW - BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY

KW - TROPHIC CASCADES

KW - SEAGRASS

KW - ABUNDANCE

KW - ASCIDIANS

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85070761366&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/ece3.5570

DO - 10.1002/ece3.5570

M3 - Article

C2 - 31624563

VL - 9

SP - 10499

EP - 10512

JO - Ecology and Evolution

JF - Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2045-7758

IS - 18

ER -