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Modeling variation in interaction strength between barnacles and fucoids

  • Community Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

The strength by which species interact can vary throughout their ontogeny, as environments vary in space and time, and with the density of their populations. Characterizing strengths of interaction in situ for even a small number of species is logistically difficult and may apply only to those conditions under which the estimates were derived. We sought to combine data from field experiments estimating interaction strength of life stages of the barnacle, Semibalanus balanoides, on germlings of Ascophyllum nodosum, with a model that explored the consequences of variability at per capita and per population levels to the abundance of year-old algal recruits. We further simulated how this interaction affected fucoid germling abundance as the timing of their respective settlements varied relative to one another, as occurs regionally across the Gulf of Maine, USA. Juvenile S. balanoides have a weak estimated per capita effect on germlings. Germling populations are sensitive to variation in per capita effects of juvenile barnacles because of the typically large population sizes of the latter. However, high mortality of juvenile barnacles weakens the population interaction strength over time. Adult barnacles probably weakly facilitate fucoid germlings, but greater survival of adults sustains the strength of that interaction at the population level. Germling abundance is positively associated with densities of adult barnacles and negatively associated with that of juvenile barnacles. Metamorphosing cyprid larvae have the strongest per capita effect on germling abundance, but the interaction between the two stages is so short-lived that germling abundance is altered little. Variation in the timing of barnacle and A. nodosum settlement relative to one another had very little influence on the abundance of yearling germlings. Interactions between barnacles and germlings may influence the demographic structure of A. nodosum populations and the persistence of fucoid-dominated communities on sheltered rocky shores in New England.

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Acknowledgements

This paper represents a portion of the thesis submitted by R. L. Kordas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MS degree at California State University, Northridge. This is contribution number 150 of the Marine Biology Group at CSUN. We are grateful to the staff of the Ira Darling Marine Center of the University of Maine who provided laboratory space, housing and support during this research. Thanks to Susan Brawley, Geoff Trussell, Bob Vadas, and Bob Whitlatch for sharing their expertise in the field, to Peter Petraitis for allowing us to use his barnacle data, to Phil Yund and Sheri Johnson for use of their lab at DMC, and to Bob Carpenter, Pete Edmunds, Chris Harley, and three anonymous reviewers who read drafts of the manuscript and made many helpful suggestions to clarify our thinking. This research was supported by grants from the Darling Center Addison E. Verrill Visiting Graduate Student Fellowship for Marine Biology, CSUN University Corporation, CSUN Associated Students, PADI Foundation Project AWARE, CSUN Graduate Research and International Programs, and CSUN College of Science and Math to R. L. Kordas and by grants from the CSUN College of Science of Math and Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at CSUN, and the National Institute of Health GMS-MBRS-SCORE program (NIH–5SO6GM48680) to S. R. Dudgeon.

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  1. Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, CA, 91330-8303, USA

    Rebecca L. Kordas & Steve Dudgeon

  2. Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V61Z4, Canada

    Rebecca L. Kordas

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  1. Rebecca L. Kordas
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Correspondence to Rebecca L. Kordas.

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Communicated by T. Underwood.

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Kordas, R.L., Dudgeon, S. Modeling variation in interaction strength between barnacles and fucoids. Oecologia 158, 717–731 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1183-y

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