Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Movement patterns of the seastar Heliaster helianthus in central Chile: relationship with environmental conditions and prey availability

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The rates and patterns of feeding and displacement of predators constitute two of the most important plastic behavioral responses that allow individuals to respond quickly to changes in abundance of their prey, predation risks and to rapid alterations in environmental conditions. In this study, we quantified seasonal and spatial variation in displacement (net changes in location in 12 or 24 h periods) and prey consumed of marked individuals of the keystone seastar Heliaster helianthus at six sites spanning 600 km along the coast of north-central Chile. We evaluated the hypotheses that: (1) at sites with low availability (cover) of the main prey, the mussel Perumytilus purpuratus, Heliaster displays larger displacements and consumes a greater proportion of other prey (e.g. mobile species) than at sites with high mussel cover, (2) daily displacements will be correlated with sea surface temperature (SST) and (3) increased wave action will reduce seastar daily displacement. Our results show that Heliaster displacement is higher at sites with lower availability of P. purpuratus; and at these sites, a larger proportion of Heliaster individuals are observed feeding, mostly on other prey (e.g. limpets), which could offset the higher costs associated with increased movement. In addition, wave forces affected the activity of Heliaster negatively. Contrary to our expectations, the daily displacements did not show any relationship with SST measured on the day or the previous days of the surveys, despite the fact that average displacement was generally higher in summer than in winter months. Future studies should examine Heliaster movement during single foraging excursions and determine whether these responses affect the growth and reproductive output of individuals. Such information is vital to understand how changes in prey abundance and environmental conditions alter the behavior and energy budget of this predator and its ability to control prey populations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abrams PA (1994) The fallacies of “ratio-dependent” predation. Ecology 75:1842–1850

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arditi R, Ginzburg LR (1989) Coupling in predator–prey dynamics: ratio-dependence. J Theor Biol 139:311–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barham EG, Gowdy RW, Wolfson FH (1973) Acanthaster (Echinodermata, Asteroidea) in the Gulf of California. Fish Bull 71:927–942

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell EC, Denny MW (1994) Quantifying “wave exposure”: a simple device for recording maximum velocity and results of its use at several field sites. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 181:9–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Broitman BR, Navarrete SA, Smith F, Gaines SD (2001) Geographic variation in southern Pacific intertidal communities. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 224:21–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bubb DH, Lucas MC, Thom TJ (2002) Winter movements and activity of signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus in a upland river, determined by radio telemetry. Hydrobiologia 483:111–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bubb DH, Thom TJ, Lucas MC (2004) Movement and dispersal of the invasive signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus in upland rivers. Freshwater Biol 49:357–368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burla H, Ferlin V, Pabst B, Ribi G (1972) Notes on the ecology of Astropecten aranciacus. Mar Biol 14:235–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Castilla JC (1981) Perspectivas de investigación en estructura y dinámica de comunidades intermareales rocosas de Chile central. II. Depredadores de alto nivel trófico. Medio Ambiente (Chile) 5:190–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Castilla JC, Paine RT (1987) Predation and community organization on Eastern Pacific, temperate zone, rocky intertidal shores. Rev Chil Hist Nat 60:131–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesher RH (1969) Destruction of Pacific Corals by the Sea Star Acanthaster planci. Science 165(3890):280–283

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • De′ath G, Moran PJ (1998) Factors affecting the behaviour of crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci L.) on the Great Barrier Reef: 1: patterns of activity. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 220:83–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denny M (1995) Predicting physical disturbance: mechanistic approaches to the study of survivorship on wave-swept shores. Ecol Monogr 65:371–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feder HM (1955) The use of vital stains in marking pacific starfish. Calif Fish Game 41(3):245–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Finke GR, Navarrete SA, Bozinovic F (2007) Tidal regimes of temperate coasts and their influences on aerial exposure for intertidal organisms. Mar Ecol Progr Ser 343:57–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitz HC, Wiegert RG (1991) Utilization of the intertidal zone of a salt marsh by the blue crab Callinectes sapidus: density, return frequency, and feeding habits. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 76:249–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gagnon P, Wagner G, Himmelman JH (2003) Use of a wave tank to study the effects of water motion and algal movement on the displacement of the sea star Asterias vulgaris towards its prey. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 258:125–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner CW (1985) Handbook of stochastic methods for physics, chemistry and the natural sciences. Springer-Verlag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Garton D, Stickle WB (1980) Effects of salinity and temperature on the predation rate of Thais haemastoma on Crassostrea virginica spat. Biol Bull 158:49–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaymer CF, Himmelman JH (2008) A keystone predatory sea star in the intertidal zone is controlled by a higher-order predatory sea star in the subtidal zone. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 370:143–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gurney WSC, Nisbet RM (1998) Ecological dynamics. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassel MP, May RM (1974) Aggregation in predators and insect parasites and its effects on stability. J Anim Ecol 43:567–594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holling CS (1959) The components of predation as revealed by a study of small-mammal predation of the European pine sawfly. Canad Entomol 91:293–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keesing J, Lucas JS (1992) Field measurement of feeding and movement rates of the crown-of-thorns Acanthaster planci (L.). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 156:89–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipcius RN, Hines AH (1986) Variable functional responses of a marine predator in dissimilar homogeneous microhabitats. Ecology 67:1361–1371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loosanoff VL (1937) Use of Nile Blue Sulfate in Marking Starfish. Science 85(2208):412

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • MacKenzie CL (1969) Feeding rates of starfish, Asterias forbesi (Desor), at controlled water temperatures and during different seasons of the year. Fish Bull 68:67–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Manzur T, Barahona M, Navarrete SA (2009) Ontogenetic changes in habitat use and diet of the seastar Heliaster helianthus on the coast of central Chile. J Mar Biol Ass UK (in press)

  • Mauzey KP (1966) Feeding behavior and reproductive cycles in Pisaster Ochraceus. Biol Bull 131:127–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClintock JB, Lawrence JM (1985) Characteristics of foraging in the soft-bottom benthic starfish Luidia clathrata (Echinodermata: Asteroidea): prey selectivity, switching behaviour, functional responses and movement patterns. Oecologia 66:291–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Menge BA (1972) Foraging strategy of a starfish in relation to actual prey availability and environmental predictability. Ecol Monogr 42:25–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menge BA (1978) Predation intensity in a rocky intertidal community: effect of an algal canopy, wave action and desiccation on predator feeding rates. Oecologia 34:17–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menge JL, Menge BA (1974) Role of resource allocation, aggression and spatial heterogeneity in co-existence of two competing starfish. Ecol Monogr 44:189–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menge BA, Olson AM (1990) Role of scale and environmental factors in regulation of community structure. TREE 5:52–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Menge BA, Sutherland JP (1987) Community regulation: variation in disturbance, competition, and predation in relation to environmental stress and recruitment. Am Nat 130:730–757

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menge BA, Berlow EL, Blanchette C, Navarrete SA, Yamada SB (1994) The keystone species concept: variation in interaction strength in a rocky intertidal habitat. Ecol Monogr 64:249–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moran MJ (1985) The timing and significance of sheltering and foraging behaviour of the predatory intertidal gastropod Morula marginalba Blainville (Muricidae). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 93:103–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murdoch WW (1971) The developmental response of predators to changes in prey density. Ecology 51:132–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murdoch WW, Oaten A (1975) Predation and population stability. Adv Ecol Res 9:1–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narváez DA, Navarrete SA, Largier J, Vargas CA (2006) Onshore advection of warm water, larval invertebrate settlement, and relaxation of upwelling off central Chile. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 309:159–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navarrete SA, Berlow EL (2006) Variable interaction strengths stabilize marine community pattern. Ecol Lett 9:526–536

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Navarrete SA, Castilla JC (2003) Experimental determination of predation intensity in an intertidal predator guild: dominant versus subordinate prey. Oikos 100:251–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navarrete SA, Manzur T (2008) Individual- and population-level responses of a keystone intertidal predator to variation in prey productivity over geographic scales. Ecology 89:2005–2018

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Navarrete SA, Menge BA (1996) Keystone predation and interaction strength: interactive effects of predators on their main prey. Ecol Monogr 66:409–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navarrete SA, Broitman B, Wieters EA, Finke GR, Venegas RM, Sotomayor A (2002) Recruitment of intertidal invertebrates in the southeast Pacific: inter-annual variability and the 1997–1998 El Niño. Limnol Oceanogr 47:791–802

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navarrete SA, Wieters E, Broitman B, Castilla JC (2005) Scales of benthic-pelagic coupling and the intensity of species interactions: from recruitment limitation to top down control. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:18046–18051

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Navarrete SA, Broitman BR, Menge BA (2008) Interhemispheric comparison of recruitment to rocky intertidal communities: pattern persistence and scales of variation. Ecology 89:1308–1322

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pabst B, Vicentini H (1978) Dislocation experiments in the migrating sea star Astropecten jonstoni. Mar Biol 48:271–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paine RT (1976) Size limited predation: an observational and experimental approach with the Mytilus-Pisaster interaction. Ecology 57:858–873

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paine RT, Castilla JC, Cancino J (1985) Perturbation and recovery patterns of starfish-dominated intertidal assemblages in Chile, New Zealand, and Washington State. Am Nat 125:679–691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palumbi SR, Freed AL (1988) Agonistic interactions in a keystone predatory starfish. Ecology 69(5):1624–1627

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raffaelli D, Hawkins SJ (1996) Intertidal ecology. Chapman & Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivadeneira MM, Fernández M, Navarrete SA (2002) Latitudinal trends of species diversity in rocky intertidal herbivore assemblages: spatial scale and the relationship between local and regional species richness. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 245:123–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robles C, Sherwood-Stephens R, Alvarado M (1995) Responses of a key intertidal predator to varying recruitment of its prey. Ecology 76:565–579

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanford E (1999) Regulation of keystone predation by small changes in ocean temperature. Science 283:2095–2097

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sanford E (2002a) The feeding, growth, and energetics of two rocky intertidal predators (Pisaster ochraceus and Nucella canaliculata) under water temperatures simulating episodic upwelling. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 273:199–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanford E (2002b) Water temperature, predation, and the neglected role of physiological rate effects in rocky intertidal communities. Integr Comp Biol 42:881–891

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheibling RE (1980) Dynamics and feeding activity of high-density aggregations of Oreaster reticulates (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) in a Sand Patch Habitat. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 2:321–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheibling RE (1981) Optimal foraging movements of Oreaster reticulatus (L.) (Echinodermata: Asteroidea). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 51:173–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sloan NA (1980) Aspects of the feeding biology of asteroids. Oceanogr Mar Biol 18:57–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Sloan NA (1984) Interference and aggression: close encounters of the starfish kind. Ophelia 23:23–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Stickle WB, Moore MN, Bayne BL (1985) Effects of temperature, salinity and aerial exposure on predation and lysosomal stability of the dog whelk Thais (Nucella) lapillus (L.). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 93:235–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tokeshi M (1989a) Development of a foraging model for a field population of the South American sun-star Heliaster helianthus. J Anim Ecol 58:189–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tokeshi M (1989b) Feeding ecology of a size-structured predator population, the South American sun-star Heliaster helianthus. Mar Biol 100:495–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viviani CA (1978) Depredación interespecífica, canibalismo y autotomía como mecanismo de escape en las especies de asteroidea (Echidermata) en el litoral del desierto del Norte Grande de Chile. Laboratorio de Ecología Marina, U. del Norte, Chile, 116 pp (Mimeograph)

  • Wieters EA (1999) Consequences of variation in recruitment of sessile prey on predatory whelks. M Sc, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, San Jose State University, California

  • Wieters EA, Gaines SD, Navarrete SA, Blanchette C, Menge BA (2008) Scales of dispersal and the biogeography of marine predator–prey interactions. Am Nat 171:405–417

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Witman JD, Genovese SJ, Bruno JF, McLaughlin JF, Pavlin B (2003) Massive prey recruitment and the control of rocky subtidal communities on large spatial scales. Ecol Monogr 73:441–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zar JH (1999) Biostatistical analysis, 4th edn. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are in debt to a number of friends and students who assisted us in the field, including Tatiana Manzur, Fredy Veliz, Joan Escobar, Alfredo Astorga, Elliott Ramos and Maurin Murua. Thanks to the grants Fondecyt # 1040787 and # 1070335 for making this study possible. Comments by Evie Wieters and Randy Finke improved this manuscript. Three anonymous reviewers provided cogent criticism that substantially improved the presentation. Funding for the long time series of mussel and barnacle recruitment at all sites was provided by Fondap-Fondecyt 15001-001 to the Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity and the Andrew Mellon Foundation, for which we are most thankful.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas, Las Cruces & Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity (CASEB), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile

    Mario Barahona & Sergio A. Navarrete

Authors
  1. Mario Barahona
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sergio A. Navarrete
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sergio A. Navarrete.

Additional information

Communicated by P. Kraufvelin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Barahona, M., Navarrete, S.A. Movement patterns of the seastar Heliaster helianthus in central Chile: relationship with environmental conditions and prey availability. Mar Biol 157, 647–661 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-009-1350-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-009-1350-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation