Abstract
The relationship between sponge size, habitat and shape was studied in the encrusting sponge Crambe crambe (Schmidt, 1862), which is distributed widely throughout the shallow Mediterranean littoral. Examination of sponge patches in shaded and well-illuminated habitats showed that the degree of peripheral irregularity of the edges of a patch is directly related to patch size. This relationship is valid only for sponges of >100 mm2 in area. Photophilic and sciaphilous sponges display different growth forms. The pattern of growth is interpreted in terms of competition for space. The directional growth of sciaphilous sponges may be due to the presence of dominant neighbours that are good space competitors, and the irregular growth of photophilic sponges to the absence of such neighbours.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Borojevic R (1971) Le comportement des cellules d'éponge lors de processus morphogénétiques. Année biol 10:9–15
Box GEP (1953) Non-normality and test of variance. Biometrika 40:318–335
Buss LW (1979) Habitat selection, directional growth, and spatial refuges: why colonial animals have more hiding places. In: Rosen B, Larwood G (eds) Biology and systematics of colonial animals. Academic Press, London, pp 459–497
Buss LW (1986) Competition and organisation on hard surfaces in the sea. In: Diamont J, Case TJ (eds) Community ecology. Harper & Row, New York, pp 517–536
Coates AG, Jackson JBC (1985) Morphological themes in the evolution of clonal and aclonal marine invertebrates. In: Jackson JBC, Buss LW, Cook RE (eds) Population biology and evolution of clonal organisms. Yale University Press, New Haven, pp 67–106
Cochran WG (1947) Some consequences when the assumptions for analysis of variance are not satisfied. Biometrics 3:22–38
Connell JH, Keough MJ (1985) Disturbance and patch dynamics of subtidal marine animals on hard substrata. In: Pickett STA, White PS (eds) The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, New York, pp 125–151
Cloney RA (1978) Ascidian metamorphosis: review and analysis. In: Chia Rice (eds) Settlement and metamorphosis of marine invertebrate larvae. Elsevier/Holland Biomedical Press, Amsterdam, pp 225–282
Franco M (1986) The influence of neighbours on the growth of modular organisms with an example from trees. Phil Trans R Soc (Ser B) 313:209–225
Fry WG (1979) Taxonomy, the individual and the sponge. In: Rosen B, Larwood G (eds) Biology and systematics of colonial animals. Academic Press, London, pp 49–80
Hartman WD, Reiswig HN (1973) The individuality of sponges. In: Boardman RS, Cheetham AH, Oliver WA Jr (eds) Animal colonies. Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross Inc, Stroudsburg Pennsylvania, pp 567–584
Jackson JBC (1977) Competition on marine hard substrata: the adaptive significance of solitary and colonial strategies. Am Nat 3:743–767
Jackson JBC (1979) Morphological strategies of sessile organisms. In: Rosen B, Larwood G (eds) Biology and systematics of colonial animals. Academic Press, London, pp 499–555
Jackson JBC, Coates AG (1986) Life cycles and evolution of clonal (modular) animals. Phil Trans R Soc (Ser B) 313:7–22
Misevic GN, Schlup V, Burger MM (1990) Larval metamorphosis of Microciona prolifera: evidence against the reversal of layers. In: Rützler K (ed) New perspectives in sponge biology. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC, pp 182–187
Reiswig HM (1974) Water transport, respiration and energetics of three tropical marine sponges. J exp mar Biol Ecol 14:231–249
Russ JC (1990) Computer assisted microscopy. Plenum Press, New York
Ryland JS, Warner GF (1986) Growth and form in modular animals: ideas on the size and arrangement of zooids. Phil Trans R Soc (Ser B) 313:53–76
Sebens KP (1987) The ecology of indeterminate growth in animals. A Rev Ecol Syst 18:371–407
Stebbing ARD (1973) Competition for space between the epiphytes of Fucus serratus L. J mar biol Ass UK 53:247–261
Stocker JL (1991) Effects of size and shape of colony on rates of fusion growth and mortality in a subtidal invertebrate. J exp mar Biol Ecol 14:161–175
Tukey JW (1953) The problem of multiple comparisons. Department of Statistics, Princeton University
Turon X (1990a) Distribution and abundance of ascidians from a locality on the northeast coast of Spain. Pubbl Staz zool Napoli (I: Mar Ecol) 11:291–308
Turon X (1990b) Ultrastructura de los órganos ectodérmicos ampulares en las larvas de dos especies de ascidias (Tunicados). An Biol Univ Murcia 16:63–70
Turon X, Becerro MA (1992) Growth and survival of several ascidian species from the northwestern Mediterranean. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 82:235–247
Underwood AJ (1981) Techniques of analysis of variance in experimental marine biology and ecology. Oceanogr mar Biol A Rev 19:513–605
Uriz MJ (1982) Reproducción en Hymeniacidon sanguinea Morfología de la larva y primeros estadios postlarvarios. Investigación pesq 46:29–39
Uriz MJ, Martín D, Rosell D (1992a) Relationships of biological and taxonomic characteristics to chemically mediated bioactivity in Mediterranean littoral sponges. Mar Biol 113:287–297
Uriz MJ, Martín D, Turon X, Ballesteros E, Hughes R, Acebal C (1991) An approach to the ecological significance of chemically mediated bioactivity in Mediterranean benthic communities. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 70:175–188
Uriz MJ, Rosell D, Martín D (1992b) The sponge population of the Cabrera Archipelago (Balearic Islands): characteristics, distribution and abundance of the most representative species. Pubbl Staz zool Napoli (I: Mar Ecol) 113:101–117
Warner GF (1978) On the shapes of the passive suspension feeders. In: Keegan BF, Ceidigh PO, Boaden PDS (eds) Biology of benthic organisms. Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp 567–576
Wulff JL (1986) Variation in clone structure of fragmenting coral reef sponges. Biol J Linn Soc 27:311–330
Wulff JL (1990) Patterns and processes of size change in Caribbean demosponges of branching morphology. In: Rützler K (ed) New perspectives in sponge biology. Smithsonian Press, Washington DC, pp 425–435
Zabala M, Ballesteros E (1989) Surface dependent strategies and energy flux in benthic marine communities or, why corals do not exist in the Mediterranean. Scientia mar 53:3–17
Zar JH (1984) Biostatistical analysis. 2nd edn. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by J. M. Pérès, Marseille
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Becerro, M.A., Uriz, M.J. & Turon, X. Trends in space occupation by the encrusting sponge Crambe crambe: variation in shape as a function of size and environment. Marine Biology 121, 301–307 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346738
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346738