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Changes in habitat complexity resulting from sequential invasions of a rocky shore: implications for community structure

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Abstract

Worldwide, marine rocky shores are being modified by alien species, but their successive impacts are rarely recorded. We documented sequential invasions of Marcus Island on the west coast of South Africa by comparing communities from 1980 (pre-invasion), 2001 (after invasion by the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis) and 2012 (following invasions by another mussel, Semimytilus algosus, and the barnacle Balanus glandula). Their influence on habitat complexity was measured with a novel technique enabling retrospective calculation of historical complexity. In 1980, habitat complexity, invertebrate abundance and species richness decreased from the low-shore to the high-shore, but homogenised in 2001 after M. galloprovincialis elevated habitat complexity across most of the shore. In 2012, these variables returned to pre-invasion patterns, after M. galloprovincialis declined in the high-shore and was replaced there by B. glandula. With the first mussel invasion, several indigenous species extended up the intertidal, but retreated once M. galloprovincialis receded. Community composition differed significantly among nearly all years and zones, irrespective of whether the alien species were included in the analyses or not. Some once-dominant native species were negatively affected by the invasions: one indigenous mussel, Choromytilus meridionalis, disappeared by 2012, and another, Aulacomya atra, declined. The abundance of recruits of the limpet Scutellastra granularis rose and fell with the arrival and recession of M. galloprovincialis, but adults were adversely affected. Changes to habitat complexity induced by sequential invasions supported hypothesised changes in invertebrate abundance and species richness, but could not alone predict changes in community composition, which were also influenced by zonation.

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Acknowledgments

Financial contributions by the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology, the Marine Research Institute, University of Cape Town (BASICs Programme) and the Andrew Mellon Foundation are gratefully acknowledged. Brendan Havenga is thanked for his help in the field. Thanks are due to Jennifer Ruesink, Divyalochany Thangavel and three anonymous reviewers for constructive and thoughtful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Marine Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa

    Saachi Sadchatheeswaran & George M. Branch

  2. Department of Botany and Zoology, Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch, 7602, South Africa

    Tamara B. Robinson

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  1. Saachi Sadchatheeswaran
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  2. George M. Branch
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  3. Tamara B. Robinson
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Correspondence to Tamara B. Robinson.

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Sadchatheeswaran, S., Branch, G.M. & Robinson, T.B. Changes in habitat complexity resulting from sequential invasions of a rocky shore: implications for community structure. Biol Invasions 17, 1799–1816 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-014-0837-4

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