Abstract
The Belgian coast has no natural rocky sites but a number of man-made constructions are colonized by rocky shore organisms. The rough periwinkle, Littorina saxatilis (Olivi), lacks a planktonic larval stage but is found on most breakwaters along the Belgian coast, a few built as recently as 1986. This indicates a good potential of dispersal along this sandy shallow coast, nearly as good as for the planktonic developer Littorina littorea (L.) which is found on generally the same sites in Belgium. The breakwater populations of L. saxatilis, however, tend to be somewhat less variable (level of heterozygosity about 10% less) than non-Belgian L. saxatilis populations of natural sites. This suggests that the breakwater populations have passed through bottlenecks when founded, but probably restored population sizes fairly rapidly afterwards. No relationship is found between geographic and genetic distances between populations of L. saxatilis.
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Johannesson, K., Warmoes, T. (1990). Rapid colonization of Belgian breakwaters by the direct developer, Littorina saxatilis (Olivi) (Prosobranchia, Mollusca). In: Johannesson, K., Raffaelli, D.G., Hannaford Ellis, C.J. (eds) Progress in Littorinid and Muricid Biology. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 56. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0563-4_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0563-4_8
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