Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Artigo Acesso aberto Produção Nacional Revisado por pares

BIBTEX RIS

Environmental and grazing influence on spatial variability of intertidal biofilm on subtropical rocky shores

2010; Inter-Research; Volume: 424; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3354/meps08981

1616-1599

Ronaldo Adriano Christofoletti, T. Almeida, Áurea Maria Ciotti,

Marine Biology and Environmental Chemistry

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 424:15-23 (2011) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08981 Environmental and grazing influence on spatial variability of intertidal biofilm on subtropical rocky shores Ronaldo A. Christofoletti1,*, Thiago V. V. Almeida2, Áurea M. Ciotti2 1Universidade de São Paulo, Centro de Biologia Marinha (CEBIMar/USP), Rod. Manoel Hipólito do Rego, km 131.5, 11600-000, São Sebastião, SP, Brazil 2Universidade Estadual Paulista 'Julio de Mesquita Filho', Campus Experimental do Litoral Paulista, Unidade São Vicente, Praça Infante Dom Henrique s/n, Parque Bitarú, 11330-900, São Vicente, SP, Brazil *Email: christofoletti@usp.br ABSTRACT: Epilithic biofilm on rocky shores is regulated by physico-chemical and biological factors and is important as a source of food for benthic organisms. The influences of environmental and grazing pressure on spatial variability of biomass of biofilm were evaluated on shores on the north coast of São Paulo State (SE Brazil). A general trend of greater abundance of microalgae was observed lower on the shore, but neither of the environmental factors evaluated (wave exposure and shore level) showed consistent effects, and differences were found among specific shores or times (September 2007 and March 2008). The abundance of slow-moving grazers (limpets and littorinids) showed a negative correlation with chlorophyll a concentration on shores. However, experimental exclusion of these grazers failed to show consistent results at small spatial scales. Observations of divergent abundances of the isopod Ligia exotica and biomass of biofilm on isolated boulders on shores led to a short exclusion experiment, where the grazing pressure by L. exotica significantly decreased microalgal biomass. The result suggests that grazing activities of this fast-moving consumer probably mask the influence of slow-moving grazers at small spatial scales, while both have an additive effect at larger scales that masks environmental influences. This is the first evaluation of the impact of the fastmoving herbivore L. exotica on microalgal biomass on rocky shores and opens an interesting discussion about the role of these organisms in subtropical coastal environments. KEY WORDS: Ligia exotica · Periphyton · Chlorophyll · Spatial patterns · Wave exposure · Grazing Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Christofoletti RA, Almeida TVV, Ciotti ÁM (2011) Environmental and grazing influence on spatial variability of intertidal biofilm on subtropical rocky shores. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 424:15-23. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps08981 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 424. Online publication date: March 01, 2011 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2011 Inter-Research.