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Calcareous meiofauna associated with the calcareous alga Corallina officinalis on bedrock and boulder-field shores of Ceredigion, Wales, UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2020

Brent Wilson*
Affiliation:
Petroleum Geoscience Program, Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago Cedar Lodge, Maenygroes, Ceinewydd, Ceredigion, UK
Lee-Ann C. Hayek
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Institution, MRC-121, Washington, DC, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Brent Wilson, E-mail: brentforam@gmail.com

Abstract

The intertidal coastline of Ceredigion, Wales, comprises a patchwork of unstable sand and cobble beaches, and stable bedrock areas and boulder-fields. The last two shoreline types support rock-pools with growths of the red alga Corallina officinalis, the thalli of which are a popular substrate for calcareous epiphytes. Replicate samples of C. officinalis (four per site) were taken from (a) three bedrock sites (Ceinewydd, Aberystwyth Victoria Rocks and Castle Rocks) and (b) three boulder-fields (Llanon, Aberaeron lower shore (Aberaeron LS), Llanina) on the lower shore. The middle shore boulder field at Aberaeron (Aberaeron MS) was also sampled. These replicates were examined for calcareous meiofauna (63–2000 μm) not previously examined as a community: spirorbids, foraminifera, gastropods, bryozoans, ostracods and ophiuroids. These were assigned to sessile and vagile modes of life. The sessile association overwhelmingly dominated bedrock coastlines and the Aberaeron MS, while the vagile association was at its most abundant on the Corallina from lower shore, stable boulder-fields. Gastropods were almost entirely limited to Corallina on boulder-fields. We hypothesize that the boulders induce low-energy turbulence among breaking waves, allowing the less firmly attached vagile meiofauna to dominate on C. officinalis in rock-pools in lower shore boulder-fields. The small attachment area of sessile organisms allows them to settle bedrock sites in greater densities than do vagile organisms at boulder-field sites, which are presumed to require larger foraging areas.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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