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Recruitment and zonation in a sub-Antarctic rocky intertidal community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2016

Jessica Natalia Curelovich ,
Gustavo Alejandro Lovrich ,
Gerardo Rubén Cueto  and
Javier Angel Calcagno
Jessica Natalia Curelovich
Affiliation:
Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y Diagnóstico (CEBBAD), Universidad Maimónides, Hidalgo 775, C1405BWE, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina
Gustavo Alejandro Lovrich
Affiliation:
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas, Bernardo Houssay 200, C9410CAB, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Gerardo Rubén Cueto
Affiliation:
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón II, 4° piso, C1428EHA, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Javier Angel Calcagno*
Affiliation:
Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y Diagnóstico (CEBBAD), Universidad Maimónides, Hidalgo 775, C1405BWE, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: J.A. Calcagno Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y Diagnóstico (CEBBAD), Universidad Maimónides, Hidalgo 775, C1405BWE, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina email: jkalcagno@gmail.com
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Abstract

This study presents for the first time the factors governing the recruitment in a rocky intertidal community of the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego (54°51′S 68°29′W), Argentina. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of grazers and predators, free substrate availability and crustose coralline algae on the recruitment of the main sessile components of the intertidal: Notochthamalus scabrosus, Notobalanus flosculus, Mytilus chilensis, Perumytilus purpuratus and Aulacomya atra at three intertidal levels. For barnacles, the probability of recruitment was higher with grazers, while the contrary was observed for bivalves. The number of N. flosculus recruits was higher with increased substrate availability, while N. scabrosus recruited more with reduced free substrate in the first sampling. Mussel recruitment was higher with reduced free substrate. The highest probability of recruitment of N. scabrosus was observed at the upper level. Notably, this probability and the recruits per plot were higher at the mid level under uncaged-ORP treatment than expected for the mid level. The probability of bivalve and N. flosculus recruitment was higher at upper and lower levels, respectively. At the lower level, barnacle recruitment was higher on bare rock than on crustose coralline algae. Our results suggest that grazers increase the probability of barnacle recruitment, while the presence of sessile organisms enhances the density of mussel recruits. Almost no recruitment of bivalves was observed in ORPs over one year, showing that the secondary succession is slow in this environment.

Keywords

barnaclesBeagle Channelsubstrate availabilitygrazersmusselssuccession
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 98 , Issue 2 , March 2018 , pp. 411 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2016 

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