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Mechanisms of habitat segregation between an invasive (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and an indigenous (Perna perna) mussel: adult growth and mortality

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Abstract

The invasive mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and the indigenous mussel Perna perna coexist intertidally on the south coast of South Africa through partial vertical habitat segregation: M. galloprovincialis dominates the upper shore and P. perna the lower shore. Recruitment patterns can explain the zonation of P. perna, but not the invasive species. We examined the role of post-recruitment interactions by measuring spatial and temporal differences in adult growth and mortality rates of the two species. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that interspecific differences in growth and mortality reflect adult distribution patterns. The two study locations, Plettenberg Bay and Tsitsikamma, are 70 km apart with two sites (separated by 300–400 m) per location, each divided into three vertical zones. Growth was measured seasonally using different marking methods in 2001 and 2003. Cumulative adult mortality was measured through summer in 2003/2004. Both species generally grew more slowly upshore, but they showed different effects of season. For P. perna, growth was significantly reduced in winter in the low zone, but unaffected by season in the high zone. For M. galloprovincialis, growth was either unaffected by season or increased in winter, even in the high zone. Thus, growth of P. perna and M. galloprovincialis was reduced under cool winter and warm summer temperatures, respectively; and while growth was more similar between species in summer, M. galloprovincialis grew much faster than P. perna in winter. Mortality of P. perna increased upshore. For M. galloprovincialis, mortality was not zone-dependent and was significantly greater than for P. perna on the low-shore and (generally) across the shore in Tsitsikamma. Both species had higher growth and mortality rates in Plettenberg Bay than in Tsitsikamma. Thus, P. perna seems able to maintain spatial dominance on the low-shore and at certain sites because of higher mortality of M. galloprovincialis. We conclude that seasonality in growth of the two species reflects their biogeographic affinities and that coexistence is possible through pre-recruitment effects that limit the vertical distribution of P. perna and post-recruitment effects that limit M. galloprovincialis.

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Acknowledgments

This work is based upon research supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation. We are also grateful to Rhodes University for additional funding. We thank the Tsitsikamma National Park for allowing us to sample within the reserve, especially J. Allen, S. Brouwer and E. Bester for organising permits and for their hospitality during field trips. We also thank S. Kaehler, J. Erlandsson, G. Zardi and B. Hayward for their help in the field; M. Villet, S. Radloff and F. Porri for their help and advice with statistics. We are particularly grateful to the referees, whose patience and comments substantially improved the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Zoology and Entomology , Coastal Research Group, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa

    Sarah J. Bownes & Christopher D. McQuaid

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  1. Sarah J. Bownes
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  2. Christopher D. McQuaid
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Correspondence to Sarah J. Bownes.

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Communicated by P. Kraufvelin.

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Bownes, S.J., McQuaid, C.D. Mechanisms of habitat segregation between an invasive (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and an indigenous (Perna perna) mussel: adult growth and mortality. Mar Biol 157, 1799–1810 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-010-1452-2

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