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Do native herbivores provide resistance to Mediterranean marine bioinvasions? A seaweed example

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Abstract

Generalist herbivores in marine ecosystems are poorly examined for their potential to serve as a source of biotic resistance against algal invasion. We assessed how one of the main generalist herbivores in Mediterranean rocky reefs (the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus) affects Lophocladia lallemandii and Caulerpa racemosa, two algal invaders with strong detrimental effects on native benthic communities. In a comparison of sea urchin gut contents to algal community composition, strong preferences were exhibited, leading to no relationship between consumption and availability. Both C. racemosa and L. lallemandi were abundant in algal assemblages (>60% occurrence), but C. racemosa (20% of diet) was consumed more than L. lallemandi (3.5%). Experimental enclosures of sea urchins (12 sea urchins * m−2) were carried out in locations where L. lallemandii was already established and C. racemosa was rare (new invasion) or abundant (established invasion). C. racemosa was negatively affected by sea urchins only when it was rare, and no effect was detected when the alga was already abundant. Results for L. lallemandi were exactly opposite: urchins limited seasonal increases in L. lallemandi in highly-invaded areas. Because of the small amount of direct consumption of L. lallemandi, its decrease in abundance may be related to the grazing of native algae where L. lallemandii is attached. Overall, our results show that high densities of native herbivores may reduce invasive algae at low densities, due to a combination of direct and indirect effects, but it has no significant effect in highly-invaded areas.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support was provided by Fundación Biodiversidad and Grant CTM2005-01434/MAR and GRACCIE project C5D2007–00067 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. EC was funded via a EU Marie Curie Fellowship (MEIF-2006-041315 and ERG-2009-248252). FT was funded by Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Fellowship. CL was funded by a Spanish Postdoctoral Fellowship. We are particularly grateful to D. Diaz for his valuable fieldwork assistance and to M. Sales, J Ruesink and two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments on previous drafts of the paper. We would like to thank the Director and Staff of the Archipelago of Cabrera National Park for permissions and facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultat de Ciències. Dept. Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17071, Girona, Spain

    Emma Cebrian

  2. Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes-CSIC, Accés Cala Sant Francesc 14, 17300, Blanes, Girona, Spain

    Enric Ballesteros

  3. Departament d’Ecologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Cristina Linares

  4. Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats, CSIC-UIB, C/Miquel Marquès, 21, 07190, Esporles, Mallorca, Spain

    Fiona Tomas

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  1. Emma Cebrian
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Correspondence to Emma Cebrian.

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Cebrian, E., Ballesteros, E., Linares, C. et al. Do native herbivores provide resistance to Mediterranean marine bioinvasions? A seaweed example. Biol Invasions 13, 1397–1408 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-010-9898-1

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