Comparative feeding rates of native and invasive ascidians.

Hoxha T; Crookes S; Lejeusne C; Dick JTA; Chang X; Bouchemousse S; Cuthbert RN; MacIsaac HJ

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.08.039

Back

Journal article

Comparative feeding rates of native and invasive ascidians.

Hoxha T Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada.
Crookes S Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada; Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
Lejeusne C Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR 7144 AD2M, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France.
Dick JTA Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT9 7BL, UK.
Chang X School of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China.
Bouchemousse S Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR 7144 AD2M, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29680 Roscoff, France; Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Chemin du musée 10, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
Cuthbert RN Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT9 7BL, UK.
MacIsaac HJ Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada; School of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China. Electronic address: hughm@uwindsor.ca.

2018-10-11

Published in:

Marine pollution bulletin. - 2018

English Ascidians have a recent history of species introductions globally, often with strong ecological impacts. Comparisons of per capita effects of invaders and comparable natives are useful to assess such impacts. Here, we explore ingestion rates (IR) and clearance rates (CR) of Ciona intestinalis and Ciona robusta, co-occurring native and non-native ascidians, respectively, from Brittany, France. IR was positively related to food concentration, with the invader responding more strongly to increasing food concentration. CR also differed by species, with the invader demonstrating higher values. C. robusta exhibited a higher functional response (Type I) than did C. intestinalis (Type II). Relative impact measured using seasonal abundance and IR revealed that C. robusta has a much greater impact than C. intestinalis at all food concentrations tested, though the former has a constrained distribution which limits its regional impact. Nevertheless, when abundant, we expect C. robusta to exert a greater impact on algal foods.

Language