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Trophic significance of herbivorous macroinvertebrates on the central Great Barrier Reef

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Abstract

The common herbivorous macroinvertebrates on reef flats of the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR) were, in order of abundance: gastropod molluscs (Turbo and Trochus spp.); pagurid crabs; and the starfish, Linckia laevigata. The density of macroinvertebrates on Davies Reef was lowest in the thick-turf habitats at the windward reef-crest (0.6–0.9 m−2) compared with 3.1 to 5.2 m−2 elsewhere on the reef flat. Invertebrate grazer densities were similar on mid-shelf reef flats (mean: 2.3–3.6 m−2) and significantly lower on outer-shelf reefs (0.3–1.0 m−2). The ingestion rate of Turbo chrysostomus, the most abundant macroinvertebrate species, was derived from (a) faecal production and food absorption efficiency, (b) comparison of algal biomass on grazed and ungrazed natural substrata and (c) gut-filling rate and feeding periodicity in field populations. The ingestion rate of Trochus pyramis, the most common trochid and an abundant component of the macroinvertebrate fauna, was also estimated using (a). This gastropod fed continuously, whereas T. chrysostomus showed a distinct nocturnal feeding periodicity. T. chrysostomus and T. pyramis ingested daily means of 35 and 54 mgC animal-1, respectively. Total gastropod grazing rates (mgC m−2d-1 in the field ranged from 11 in a thick-turf, reef-crest habitat to 144 on the open-grazed main flat. Grazing by gastropods accounted for between 0.3 and 8% of the net production of benthic algal food resources, depending on location on the reef flat. Across the whole reef flat the mean (areally-weighted) gastropod grazing rate was 6% of net production. A comparison of the relative roles of different types of grazers led to the conclusion that fishes are likely to have the greatest overall trophic impact on reefs of the central GBR. Even where macroinvertebrates are most abundant on reef flats, the yield from benthic algal communities to macroinvertebrates is estimated to be only one third of that due to fishes.

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  1. Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, 4810, Townsville, MC, Australia

    D. W. Klumpp & A. Pulfrich

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  1. D. W. Klumpp
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  2. A. Pulfrich
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Contribution no. 471 from the Australian Institute of Marine Science

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Klumpp, D.W., Pulfrich, A. Trophic significance of herbivorous macroinvertebrates on the central Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs 8, 135–144 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00338269

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