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THE DISTRIBUTION OF SIX SPECIES OF GASTROPOD MOLLUSCS IN A CALIFORNIA KELP FOREST

1974; Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL); Volume: 147; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1540456

1939-8697

Lloyd F. Lowry, ALFRED J. McELROY, John S. Pearse,

Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics

1. The summer distribution of 6 species of gastropod molluscs found in a kelp forest is analyzed. From 4 species of common macroalgae, 876 snails were collected.2. Tegula brunnea was found primarily on Macrocystis pyrifera. Tegula montereyi and T. pulligo were fairly evenly distributed among the 4 algal species. Calliostoma annulatum, C. canaliculatum, and C. ligatum were all found primarily on the reproductive fronds of Cystoseira osmundacea. Indices of association are given which show that the mean distributional associations for pairs of species within the same genus are not significantly different for the 2 genera. When combinations involving members of the two different genera are compared to within genus combinations, the similarity was found to be significantly higher for the within genus combinations.3. An analysis of populations of Tegula spp. on Macrocystis showed differences in species compositions at different heights on the plants. Tegula pulligo was relatively most common at the bottoms of the plants and least common in the canopy. Tegula brunnea showed the reverse trend.4. A comparison of the size frequency distributions for T. montereyi and T. pulligo collected from the different species of algae showed that small individuals tend to be on the ground cover algae (Gigartina corymbifera and Dictyoneuropsis reticulata) and larger individuals on the large, upright Macrocystis.5. Little agreement was found when comparing the distributions found in our study with those previously reported. This lack of agreement is probably due to differences among different areas as well as among different seasons.