Food webs and fishing affect parasitism of the sea urchin Eucidaris galapagensis in the Galápagos

Ecology
Jorge I SonnenholznerLydia B Ladah

Abstract

In the Galápagos Islands, two eulimid snails parasitize the common pencil sea urchin, Eucidaris galapagensis. Past work in the Galápagos suggests that fishing reduces lobster and fish densities and, due to this relaxation of predation pressure, indirectly increases urchin densities, creating the potential for complex indirect interactions between fishing and parasitic snails. To measure indirect effects of fishing on these parasitic snails, we investigated the spatial relationships among urchins, parasitic snails, commensal crabs, and large urchin predators (hogfish and lobsters). Parasitic snails had higher densities at sites where urchins were abundant, probably due to increased resource availability. Commensal crabs that shelter under urchin spines, particularly the endemic Mithrax nodosus, preyed on the parasitic snails in aquaria, and snails were less abundant at field sites where these crabs were common. In aquaria, hogfish and lobsters readily ate crabs, but crabs were protected from predation under urchin spines, leading to a facultative mutualism between commensal crabs and urchins. In the field, fishing appeared to indirectly increase the abundance of urchins and their commensal crabs by reducing predation pressure fr...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 29, 2012·Ecology of Food and Nutrition·Rakesh K MaikhuriLakhpat S Rawat
Jan 31, 2014·Parasitology·Alexandre Budria, Ulrika Candolin
Jul 17, 2013·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Chelsea L WoodJuan Carvajal
Dec 24, 2014·Ecology Letters·Joshua B GrinathNora Underwood
Sep 6, 2015·Journal of Invertebrate Pathology·Loren D Coen, Melanie J Bishop
Mar 7, 2014·Parasitology·Chelsea L Wood, Kevin D Lafferty
Jan 13, 2017·Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine : Official Publication of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians·Jeffrey R ApplegateGregory A Lewbart
Sep 21, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Kenneth De BaetsAleksandra Skawina

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