Movements of intertidal gastropods

doi:10.1016/0022-0981(77)90107-1

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Volume 26, Issue 2, February 1977, Pages 191-201

https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0981(77)90107-1 Get rights and content

Abstract

Movements of marked individuals of Nerita atramentosa Reeve, Austrocochlea constricta (Lamarck), Bembicium nanum (Lamarck), and Cellana tramoserica (Sowerby) were recorded at various sites in New South Wales in 1974 and 1975. A model of random movements during feeding at high tide was proposed, i.e., that animals wandered in random directions and the distances moved were exponentially distributed. Appropriate statistical tests for departures from such a model are given. The types of departure tested were non-random directions, non-exponentially distributed dis- tances, different distances in different directions, and correlated distances or directions of movement between days. With two exceptions, the movements of the animals over short periods were adequa- tely described by the assumption of random movements. One exception was A. constricta in one locality where movements of the sample were limited by it being in a large rock-pool and the other was the limpet C. tramoserica which displayed homing behaviour, so that the population could be divided into homers and non-homers. Movements of non-homing limpets were random.

The mean distance moved by N. atramentosa was not significantly different from that of A. con- stricta. The mean distances moved by these two species were greater than those of B. nanum and the non-homing C. tramoserica, which were not different from each other. Adult and one-year old N. atramentosa did not differ significantly in mean distance moved, but both moved more than juveni- les. These patterns of movement are discussed with respect to hypotheses about feeding in these species.

The model of movement was used to predict the effect of different percentage cover in small pools on the movement of A. constricta, which shows a preference for this micro-habitat. Increased availability of small pools reduced the mean distance moved by this species.

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Food competition between age-classes in the intertidal neritacean Nerita atramentosa Reeve (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia)
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Analysis of patterns of dispersion of intertidal prosobranch gastropods in relation to macroalgae and rock-pools
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There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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Littorina littorea show small-scale persistent tidal height and habitat partitioning that is resilient to dislodgement through specific movement rates
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Citation Excerpt :
Finally, as littorinids typically show some seasonality in their preferred shore height (Gendron, 1977; Hamilton, 1978; Petraitis, 1982; Warner, 2001), further work is needed to generalised the observed tidal height preference through the consideration of (i) the potential seasonal vertical migration of L. littorea on the studied seawall, and (ii) the seasonal fluctuations in the abundance and diversity of the fauna and flora characterizing each tidal level as they are likely to drive the nature and quantity of infochemicals available to navigation. These results suggests that at relatively short time scales (i.e. days to months), L. littorea show both tidal height and habitat partitioning that is distinct from the range of movement patterns previously reported in littorinids over a range of temporal scales such as (i) ontogenetic migration (Underwood, 1977, 1979; Takada, 1996; Bishop et al., 2007), (ii) seasonality in preferred shore height (Gendron, 1977; Hamilton, 1978; Petraitis, 1982; Warner, 2001), (iii) migration to preferred shore height following dislodgment or transplantation (Evans, 1961; Bock and Johnson, 1967; Gendron, 1977; Thain et al., 1985; Miller et al., 2007), eventually in relation to different ecotypes (Rolán-Alvarez et al., 1997; Erlandsson et al., 1998), (iv) navigation back to a preferred resting site (Chapperon and Seuront, 2009), and (v) daily displacement rates related to tidal height, surface topography and food distribution of microhabitats, prey availability and shelter, and trail-following (Fairweather, 1988; Underwood and Chapman, 1989, 1992; Chapman, 1998, 2000a, 2000b; Byers, 2000; Chapman and Underwood, 1994a, 1994b; Seuront et al., 2007; Chapperon and Seuront, 2012). Additional factors such as parasitism are also known to affect the short-term movements of littorinids through either movements higher on the shore depending on the parasite present (Curtis, 1987; McCarthy et al., 2000) or reduced movement (Williams and Ellis, 1975; Miller and Poulin, 2001; O'Dwyer et al., 2014).
Dislodgment, in particular by breaking waves, is a widely acknowledged source of stress, if not mortality, in rocky shores intertidal gastropods. This raises the question of understanding if snails dislodged from a specific habitat have the ability to navigate back to their original substrate, and how this is achieved. In this context, we investigated the consequences of dislodgement on a population of Littorina littorea inhabiting two proximate habitats (a seawall ranging from the low to the high intertidal zone and the related low intertidal rocky platform) located on an isolated offshore reef over a three-month period. Using tagged undisturbed, disturbed, translocated and transplanted L. littorea, we assessed a potential tidal height preference and found that L. littorea showed a clear tendency to remain on their original tidal height, with recapture rates ranging between 100% and 88%, respectively 1 and 78 days after dislodgment. We subsequently measured the recapture rates of individuals dislodged from three distinct tidal levels on the seawall and from a horizontal platform. Dislodged L. littorea showed a clear tendency to return to their original tidal level, with return rates ranging between 32 and 48% 78 days after dislodgement; snails from the horizontal platform were never found on the proximate seawall. In addition, high frequency observations conducted on individually tagged dislodged L. littorea during the first 8 successive low tides of our survey indicate that individuals originating from the seawall consistently showed higher movement rates and directionality towards the seawall, while individuals originating from the platform showed no directionality and reduced migration rate. These results show that dislodged L. littorea navigate back to their original substrate and tidal height. Putative processes include a combination of geotaxis, chemotaxis and rheotaxis. At relatively short time scales (i.e. days to months), L. littorea show both tidal and habitat partitioning that is distinct from the movement patterns previously reported in littorinids over a range of temporal scales.
Can transplanting enhance mobile marine invertebrates in ecologically engineered rock pools?
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The field of eco-engineering has burgeoned in recent years in response to the proliferation of artificial structures. Adding water-retaining features to seawalls has been successful in increasing biodiversity relative to the surrounding structure. Artificial rock pools may not, however, completely mimic natural rock pools. Here, we compared natural colonisation, through dispersal and recruitment, of intertidal mobile species to water-retaining flowerpots on seawalls with that into rock pools. This represents the more usual ‘passive’ approach to eco-engineering where features are built to enhance biodiversity and are allowed to colonise naturally, as opposed to seeding or transplanting organisms to features. While flowerpots supported some mobile species not found on the seawall, other species common on natural shores did not recruit to flowerpots. Thus, in a second experiment we tested the effectiveness of an ‘active’ approach through transplanting mobile organisms to flowerpots to expedite the colonisation process. For the species examined, however, most individuals did not stay in the flowerpots for more than 24 h after being transplanted. Further understanding of the processes (e.g. dispersal distances, recruitment) influencing colonisation of eco-engineered habitats is needed to effectively inform management of marine infrastructure, particularly for projects targeted at restoration rather than enhancement.
Altering species interactions outweighs the effects of experimental warming in structuring a rocky shore community
2017, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
The strength and direction of interspecific interactions governing communities is expected to change with increasing global temperatures. However, in many ecosystems it remains unclear which species interactions are most likely to be altered under increasing thermal stress and what impacts, if any, such altered interactions will have on community structure. We investigated the interactive effects of increased temperature and altered species interactions on the structure of a rocky intertidal community by deploying black and white plates in areas with or without the dominant grazer, the limpet Cellana tramoserica. Plates effectively manipulated substratum temperature, whilst anti-fouling paint effectively manipulated the strength of algal-herbivore interactions. Plates without C. tramoserica quickly developed and maintained abundant macroalgal assemblages irrespective of thermal stress. By contrast, the abundance of barnacles remained relatively low and did not differ across thermal treatments, although they were slightly more abundant in plots where C. tramoserica had been excluded. These results support recent findings that altered species interactions are anticipated to have greater effects on community structure than the direct impacts of warming, challenging the view community structure under warming climatic conditions can be predicted from individual responses of populations to increasing thermal stress. Based on these and other recent findings we therefore advocate for greater inclusion of biotic interactions into climate change models that aim to predict the state of future ecological communities.
Short-term exposure to antifouling copper paint does not affect a key intertidal grazer
2017, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
Citation Excerpt :
For the Ctrl treatment, individuals with the same range size of the AP treatment were randomly sampled during the experiment. The potential effect of handling on limpet behaviour was not a concern since this species may recover from disturbance after a day (Underwood, 1977). To test whether copper may affect limpet condition, we measured the mass of limpets before (control before – Ctrl Bef) and at the end of the experiment (control after – Ctrl Aft and antifouling paint – AP).
It is well known that grazing gastropods, notably limpets, have a structuring effect on rocky shore ecology. The findings to establish this knowledge came from exclusion experiments, often using fences necessitating complex procedural controls. Barriers of anti-fouling copper paint (AP) have been shown to be an effective way to control densities of species in intertidal rocky shores. This method may produce fewer confounding effects than traditional methods of exclosure such as fences/cages and, consequently, is seen as a better solution for excluding grazing molluscs. Nevertheless, the potential artefacts arising from AP as a barrier system are not fully quantified. To better understand the biological impacts of AP and also determine its applicability in field studies, we first determined if using AP as a fence to enclose limpets led to elevated copper levels in test animals. Then, we tested short-term effects of AP on the tenacity, foraging behaviour, grazing pressure and body mass of the limpet Cellana tramoserica in its natural environment over a representative experimental period. AP barriers increased copper concentrations tenfold in C. tramoserica, but this did not affect any of the response variables measured under natural conditions. Overall, our results showed that AP is not as deleterious to limpets as reported from laboratory studies and this supports its use as an effective cageless method to manipulate densities of species on rocky shores in a short time scale.
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Freshwater snails are widely distributed in running water systems. Most of them are feeding on biofilms attached to substrata. We used gastropods with different morphology and potentially different traits to analyse the effect of water currents and substratum roughness on the interactions between grazers and biofilms. The gastropods were exposed to naturally grown biofilms from the River Rhine that differed in age and in their artificial substratum roughness (mimicked by abrasive paper). The experiments were conducted in endless channels with paddle wheels where the current velocity could be set steplessly. The freshwater pulmonates Ancylus fluviatilis and Physella acuta as well as the freshwater prosobranchs Bithynia tentaculata and Potamopyrgus antipodarum were used as model organisms in this investigation. The time the snails remained on the test area related to the substratum roughness, and current velocity was used to compare the performance of the four snail species on different aged biofilms. In one experiment, the locomotive activity of snails was traced.
Gastropods left substrata without biofilms and did not show different responses to biofilms of diverse ages with significant differences in their biochemical contents. Grazing by snails altered the biofilms in their chlorophyll-a content, ash-free dry mass, and ash mass. A current velocity above 0.12 m s⁻¹ drove B. tentaculata, P. acuta, and P. antipodarum off the test areas, only A. fluviatilis remained unaffected by the applied current velocities (up to 0.23 m s⁻¹). The substratum roughness had no direct influence on the retention time of snails and their locomotive activity on the substrata, whereas the chlorophyll-a content of the biofilm strongly influenced snail activity. Substratum roughness had only an indirect influence on the behaviour of snails contrary to studies on marine snail species.

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Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Abstract

References (19)

Experiments on homing in the limpet Siphonaria normalis

Anim. Behav.

A study of the homing habit of the limpet

Anim. Behav.

Comparative studies on the biology of Nerita atramentosa Reeve, Bem- bicium nanum (Lamarck) and Cellana tramoserica (Sowerby) (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia) in S.E. Australia

J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol.

Food competition between age-classes in the intertidal neritacean Nerita atramentosa Reeve (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia)

J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol.

Analysis of patterns of dispersion of intertidal prosobranch gastropods in relation to macroalgae and rock-pools

Oecologia (Berl.)

Directional movements of the intertidal snail, Littorina littorea

Biol. Bull. mar. biol. Lab., Woods Hole

Statistical methods for the analysis of problems in animal orientation and certain biological rhythms

Am. Inst. Biol. Sci. Monogr.

The mechanism of orientation of freely-moving Littorina littoralis (L.) to polarised light

J. exp. Biol.

Observations on local movements of Littorina littorea (L.) and Thais lapillus (L.)

Nautilus

Cited by (77)

Urban shading and artificial light at night alter natural light regimes and affect marine intertidal assemblages

Littorina littorea show small-scale persistent tidal height and habitat partitioning that is resilient to dislodgement through specific movement rates

Can transplanting enhance mobile marine invertebrates in ecologically engineered rock pools?

Altering species interactions outweighs the effects of experimental warming in structuring a rocky shore community

Short-term exposure to antifouling copper paint does not affect a key intertidal grazer

Response of gastropod grazers to food conditions, current velocity, and substratum roughness