Supply-side ecology of the brown mussel, Perna perna: an investigation of spatial and temporal variation in, and coupling between, gamete release and larval supply
- Authors: McQuaid, Christopher D , Lawrie, S M
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6954 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011987
- Description: Sampling of recruitment-associated variables of Perna perna was done approximately monthly for 14 months at intertidal locations 500 m apart, nested within sites 25 km apart. Paired with intertidal locations were nearshore locations, 600 m to sea. Sampling assessed spawning, densities of larvae in the water column and densities of late plantigrades and juveniles on the shore. Major events in each variable were synchronous over larger scales (10s of kilometres) while subsidiary events were synchronised at smaller scales, varying within sites (100s of metres) or even within locations (metres). This suggests that the processes driving major events operated over large scales while processes operating at much more local scales drove less intense, more localised events. A major spawning event occurred at all locations in May–June 1998. Weaker spawning events occurred at different times in different locations. Larvae were found on 80% of sampling occasions, densities peaking in January–March 1998 and 1999 at all locations. Plantigrades and juveniles showed less clear patterns, with considerable residual variation. There was no sign of strong coupling among variables with few significant direct or cross correlations. The major sources of variability shifted from time to space as one progressed from spawning, to plantigrade density to juvenile density. For spawning, time was the most important source (58%) of heterogeneity and space accounted for little (8%) of the total variance. For larvae and late plantigrades, time was still the most important source of variability (41% and 33%, respectively), but space was a much more substantial component. For juveniles, small-scale (residual) spatial variability dominated total variability (75%). This strongly suggests the importance of hydrography and its effects on variation in delivery of larvae to the intertidal from offshore. These findings also indicate greater spatial heterogeneity as recruits age, reflecting small-scale variations in larval delivery and the increasing importance of post-settlement mortality.
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- Date Issued: 2005
Scales of mussel bed complexity: structure, associated biota and recruitment
- Authors: Lawrie, S M , McQuaid, Christopher D
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6956 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011996
- Description: Hierarchically scaled surveys were carried out on beds of the brown mussel Perna perna (Linnaeus) on the South coast of South Africa. The object was to assess spatial and temporal variations in the complexity of mussel beds and to investigate relationships between mussel bed complexity and mussel recruitment. Complexity was divided into three components: physical complexity; demographic complexity; associated biota. A series of variables within each component were recorded at two different scales (10 and 50 cm) within nested quadrats on three separate occasions. The nested ANOVA design explicitly incorporated spatial scale as levels of the ANOVA. These scales were: shores (areas 1 km in length separated by 25 km); transects (areas 20 m in length separated by 100s of meters); 50×50-cm quadrats separated by meters and 10×10-cm quadrats separated by cm) This approach was intended to generate hypotheses concerning direct associations between recruitment and complexity versus co-variation due external processes. Three main questions were addressed: (1) At what scale does each variable of complexity exhibit greatest significant variation? (2) At these scales is there similar ranking of variables of complexity and recruitment? (3) Within this/these scales, is there any significant relationship between the variables measured and mussel recruitment? On two occasions (Nov. 97 and Mar. 98) the majority of variables showed greatest significant variation at the transect-scale. On a third occasion (Oct. 97) most variables showed greatest significant variation at the quadrat-scale and the site-scale. On all occasions a markedly high percentage of the variation encountered also occurred at the smallest scale of the study, i.e., the residual scale of the ANOVA analyses. Some similarity in the ranking of variables occurred at the transect scale. Within the transect-scale, there was little indication of any relationship between variables of complexity and recruitment. Relationships were inconsistent either among transects or among sampling occasions. Overall, the results suggest that a high degree of variation in mussel bed complexity consistently occurs at very small scales. High components of variance generally also occur at one or more larger scales; however, these scales vary with season. Mussel recruitment does not appear to be directly affected by complexity of mussel beds. Instead it appears external factors may influence both complexity and recruitment independently. In addition recruitment may influence complexity rather than vice versa.
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- Date Issued: 2001