Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T15:08:14.034Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The distribution, growth and reproduction of Pontocrates arenarius and P. altamarinus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) at Millport, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

D. J. Beare
Affiliation:
University Marine Biological Station, Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland, KA28 OEG
P. G. Moore
Affiliation:
University Marine Biological Station, Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland, KA28 OEG

Extract

Results of a comparative study on the distribution, growth and reproductive bionomics of two species of sand-dwelling oedicerotid amphipod, Pontocrates arenarius and P. Altamarinus are presented. Pontocrates arenarius is a littoral species with highest population densities between mean tide level (MTL) and low water springs (LWS) while P. altamarinus lives in the immediate sublittoral between LWS and -2 m Chart Datum. Both species are iteroparous, have female biased sex ratios, year-round breeding and life cycles largely based on two generations per year. The percentage of ovigerous females in the total population indicates breeding activity, and temporal changes in this percentage (arcsin transformed) have been tested for correlations against seasonal variation in five environmental factors (mean maximum weekly air temperature, mean minimum weekly air temperature, mean weekly sea temperature, day length, and mean weekly windspeed). Based on these analyses, differences in the timing of peak reproductive activity between these two species are interpreted as indicating the operation of different mortality agents, i.e. abiotic factors in the littoral P. arenarius and biotic effects (e.g. predation by fish) in P. altamarinus from the sublittoral.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnett, P.R.O., 1971. Some changes in intertidal sand communities due to thermal pollution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 177, 353364.Google ScholarPubMed
Bate, C.S. & Westwood, J.O., 1862. A history of the British sessile-eyed Crustacea. London: J. Van Voorst.Google Scholar
Beare, D.J., 1994. The comparative ecology of eight species of oedicerotid amphipod. PhD thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Bousfield, E.L., 1973. Shallow-water gammaridean Amphipoda of New England. Ithaca, USA: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Chevreux, E. & Fage, L., 1925. Amphipodes. Faicne de France, 9, 1488.Google Scholar
Colman, J.S. & Segrove, F., 1955a. The fauna living in Stoupe Beck Sands, Robin Hood's Bay (Yorkshire, North Riding). Journal of Animal Ecology, 24, 426444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colman, J.S. & Segrove, F., 1955b. The tidal plankton over Stoupe Beck Sands, Robin Hood's Bay (Yorkshire, North Riding). Journal of Animal Ecology, 24, 445462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, G.I., 1937. The fauna of certain estuaries in west England and South Wales, with special reference to the Tanaidacea, Isopoda and Amphipoda. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 21, 647662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De March, B.G.E., 1978. The effects of constant and variable temperatures on the size, growth, and reproduction of the freshwater amphipod Hyalella azteca (Saussure). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 56, 18011806.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downie, A.J., 1990. The reproduction and development of flatfish in the proximity of the sludge dump site in the Firth of Clyde. PhD thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Elmhirst, R., 1931. Studies in the Scottish marine fauna. The Crustacea of sandy and muddy areas of the tidal zone. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 51, 169175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fincham, A.A., 1971. Ecology and population studies of some intertidal and sublittoral sand-dwelling amphipods. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 51, 471488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fish, J.D., 1975. Development, hatching and brood size in Bathyporeia pilosa and B. pelagica (Crustacea: Amphipoda). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 55, 357368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fish, J.D. & Mills, A., 1979. The reproductive biology of Corophium volutator and C. arenarium (Crustacea: Amphipoda). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 59, 355368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fish, J.D. & Preece, G.S., 1970. The annual reproductive patterns of Bathyporeia pilosa and Bathyporeia pelagica (Crustacea: Amphipoda). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 50, 475–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folk, R.L., 1974. Petrology of sedimentary rocks. Texas: Hemphill's Publishing.Google Scholar
France, R.L., 1992. Biogeographical variation in size-specific fecundity of the amphipod Hyalella azteca. Crustaceana, 62, 240248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, S.J., 1966. Allometry and size in ontogeny and phylogeny. Biological Reviews, 41, 587640.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Healey, M.C. & Heard, W.R., 1984. Inter and intra-population variation in the fecundity of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and its relevance to life history theory. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 41, 476483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, J.E., 1982. Life history of the sandy beach amphipod Dogielinotus loquax (Crustacea: Dogielinotidae) from the outer coast of Washington USA. Marine Biology, 71, 167175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanneworff, E., 1965. Life cycle, food, and growth of the amphipod Ampelisca macrocephala Liljeborg from the Øresund. Ophelia, 2, 305318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolding, S. & Fenchel, T.M., 1981. Patterns of reproduction in different populations of five species of the amphipod genus Gammarus. Oikos, 37, 167172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lincoln, R.J., 1979. British marine Amphipoda: Gamtnaridea, London: British Museum (Natural History).Google Scholar
Mashiko, K., 1990. Diversified egg and clutch sizes among local populations of the fresh-water prawn Macrobrachium nipponense (de Haan). Journal of Crustacean Biology, 10, 306314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mclntyre, A.D. & Eleftheriou, A., 1968. The bottom fauna of a flatfish nursery ground. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 48, 113142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, P.G., 1981. The life histories of the amphipods Lembos websteri Bate and Corophium bonnellii Milne-Edwards in kelp holdfasts. Journal of Experimental Biology and Ecology, 49, 150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, P.G., 1983. The apparent role of temperature in breeding initiation and winter population structure in Hyale nilssoni Rathke (Amphipoda): field observations 1972–1983. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 71, 237248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, P.G., 1984. The fauna of the Clyde Sea area. Crustacea: Amphipoda. Occasional Publications. University Marine Biological Station, Millport, 2, 84 pp.Google Scholar
Moore, P.G. & Beare, D.J., 1993. Taxonomic confusion in the genus Pontocrates (Crustacea: Amphipoda) and the presence of P. arcticus in Britain. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 73, 609615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morritt, D. & Stevenson, T.D.I., 1993. Factors influencing breeding initiation in the beachflea Orchestia gammarellus (Pallas) (Crustacea: Amphipoda). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 165, 191208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicolaisen, W. & Kanneworff, E., 1983. Annual variations in vertical distribution and density of Bathyporeia pilosa Lindstrom and Bathyporeia sarsi Watkin at Julebaek (North-Sealand, Den-mark). Ophelia, 22, 237251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ott, L., 1988. An introduction to statistical methods and analysis, Boston: PWS-KENT Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Powell, R., 1990. Ovigerous amphipods as freight hauliers. PhD thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Powell, R. & Moore, P.G., 1991. The breeding cycles of females of seven species of amphipod (Crustacea) from the Clyde Sea area. Journal of Natural History, 25, 435479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, C.R., 1939. Notes on the ecology of the sandy beaches of North Donegal. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy B, 45, 215229.Google Scholar
Sainte-Marie, B., 1991. A review of the reproductive bionomics of aquatic gammaridean amphipods: variation of life history traits with latitude, depth, salinity and superfamily. Hydrobiologia, 223, 189227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sainte-Marie, B. & Brunei, P., 1983. Differences in life history and success between suprabenthic shelf populations of Arrhis phyllonyx (Amphipoda: Gammaridea) in two ecosystems of the Gulf of St Lawrence. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 3, 4569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salvat, B., 1967. La macrofaune carcinologique endogée des sédiments meubles intertidaux (Tanaidaces, Isopodes et Amphipodes), éthologie, bionomie et cycle biologique. Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 45, 139163.Google Scholar
Segerstråle, S.G., 1970. Light control of the reproductive cycle of Pontoporeia affinis Lindstrom (Crustacea: Amphipoda). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 5, 272275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheader, M., 1978. Distribution and reproductive biology of Corophium insidiosum (Amphipoda) on the north-east coast of England. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 58, 585596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steele, V.J., Steele, D.H. & Macpherson, B.R., 1977. The effect of photoperiod on the reproductive cycle of Gammarus setosus Dementieva, 1931. Crusiaceana, supplement 4, 5863.Google Scholar
Van Dolah, R.F. & Bird, E., 1980. A comparison of reproductive patterns in epifaunal and infaunal gammaridean amphipods. Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science, 11, 593604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkin, E.E., 1941. Observations on the night tidal migrant Crustacea of Kames Bay. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 25, 8196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkin, E.E., 1942. The macrofauna of the intertidal sand of Kames Bay, Millport, Buteshire. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 60, 543561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wildish, D.J., 1979. Reproductive consequences of the terrestrial habit in Orchestia (Crustacea: Amphipoda). International Journal of Invertebrate Reproduction, 1, 920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar