Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:28:41.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preliminary observations on factors affecting foraging activity in the limpet Patella vulgata

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Colin Little ,
David Morritt ,
David M. Paterson ,
Penny Stirling  and
Gray A. Williams
Colin Little
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1UG
David Morritt
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1UG
David M. Paterson
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1UG
Penny Stirling
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TD
Gray A. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1UG
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Activity patterns of limpets were studied at two adjacent sites in an Irish sea lough, Lough Hyne, in order to relate timing of activity to physical and biological influences. Activity was suppressed during heavy rainfall, and osmotic stress from dilution appears to have led to increased mortality in transplanted limpets. Activity increased as tides progressed from neaps to springs, and for limpets low on the shore it was enhanced by wave action. It is suggested that lack of activity in calm water may reduce predation pressure from crabs, which caused high mortality in transplanted limpets. Either low relative humidity or dryness of the rock diminished activity of low-water limpets. Differences in feeding activity between low-water limpets and high-water limpets may relate to food supply, since more food was available low on the shore, and the guts of low-water limpets contained more diatoms than those of high-water individuals. Differences between the two sites are at present unexplained but may relate to differences in micro habitats.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 70 , Issue 1 , February 1990 , pp. 181 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atkinson, R.J.A. & Naylor, E., 1973. Activity rhythms in some burrowing decapods. Helgolander Wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen, 24, 192–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, D.C., 1957. The response of the limpet, Patella vulgata L., to waters of different salinities. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 36, 121–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bassindale, R., Ebling, F.J., Kitching, J.A. & Purchon, R.D., 1948. The ecology of the Lough Ine rapids with special reference to water currents. I. Introduction and hydrography. Journal of Ecology, 36, 305–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blandford, P. & Little, C., 1983. Salinity detection by Hydrobia ulvae (Pennant) and Potamopyrgus jenkinsi Smith (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 68, 25–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyden, C.R. & Zeldis, J.R., 1979. Preliminary observations using an attached microphonic sensor to study feeding behaviour of an intertidal limpet. Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science, 9, 759–769.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branch, G.M. 1988. Activity rhythms in Siphonaria thersites. In Behavioural Adaptation to Intertidal Life (ed. G., Chelazzi and M., Vannini), pp. 27–44. London: Plenum Press. [NATO ASI Series, vol. 151.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branch, G.M. & Barkai, A., 1988. Interspecific behaviour and its reciprocal interaction with evolution, population dynamics and community structure. In Behavioural Adaptation to Intertidal Life (ed. G., Chelazzi and M., Vannini), pp. 225–254. London: Plenum Press. [NATO ASI Series, vol. 151.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, P.C., 1973. Behaviour and distribution of the sand-beach amphipod Orchestoidea corniculata. Marine Biology, 23, 101–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crothers, J.H., 1968. The biology of the shore crab Carcinus maenas (L.). 2. The life of the adult crab. Field Studies, 2, 579–614.Google Scholar
Hawkins, S.J. & Hartnoll, R.G. 1982. The influence of barnacle cover on the numbers, growth and behaviour of Patella vulgata on a vertical pier. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 62, 855–867.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levings, S.C. & Garrity, S.D., 1984. Grazing patterns in Siphonaria gigas (Mollusca, Pulmonata) on the rocky Pacific coast of Panama. Oecologia, 64, 152–159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Little, C., 1989. Factors governing patterns of foraging activity in littoral marine herbivorous molluscs. Journal ofMolluscan Studies, 55, 273–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, C. & Stirling, P., 1984. Activation of a mangrove snail, Littorina scabra scabra (L.) (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia). Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 35,607–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, C. & Stirling, P., 1985. Patterns of foraging activity in the limpet Patella vulgata L. - a preliminary study. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 89, 283–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, C., Williams, G.A., Morritt, D., Perrins, J.M. & Stirling, P., 1988. Foraging behaviour of Patella vulgata L. in an Irish sea-lough. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 120, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackay, D.A. & Underwood, A.J., 1977. Experimental studies on homing in the intertidal patellid limpet Cellana tramoserica (Sowerby). Oecologia, 30, 215–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naylor, E., 1985. Tidally rhythmic behaviour of marine animals. Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology, no. 39, 63–93.Google ScholarPubMed
Naylor, E., 1988. Clock-controlled behaviour in intertidal animals. In Behavioural Adaptation to Intertidal Life (ed. G., Chelazzi and M., Vannini), pp. 1–14. London: Plenum Press. [NATO ASI Series, vol. 151.]Google Scholar
Naylor, E. & Williams, B.G. 1984. Environmental entrainment of tidally rhythmic behaviour in marine animals. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 80, 201–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, D., 1988. The timing of reproduction to distinct spring tide situations in the intertidal insect Clunio. In Behavioural Adaptation to Intertidal Life (ed. G., Chelazzi and M., Vannini), pp. 45–54. London: Plenum Press. [NATO ASI Series, vol. 151.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohgaki, S., 1988. Rain and the distribution of Nodilittorina exigua (Dunker) (Gastropoda: Littorinidae). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 122, 213–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reid, D.G. & Naylor, E., 1985. Free-running, endogenous semilunar rhythmicity in a marine isopod crustacean. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 65,85–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reid, D.G. & Naylor, E., 1989. Are there separate circatidal and circadian clocks in the shore crab Carcinus maenas? Marine Ecology - Progress Series, 52, 1–6.Google Scholar
Ruppel, G., 1967. Zur Lokomotionsaktivitat des Amphipoden Orchestia platensis im Freiland und im Laboratorium. Helgolander Wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen, 15, 272–280.Google Scholar
Ugolini, A., Scapini, F., Beugnon, G. & Pardi, F., 1988. Learning in zonal orientation of sandhoppers. In Behavioural Adaptation to Intertidal Life (ed. G., Chelazzi and M., Vannini), pp. 105–118. London: Plenum Press. [NATO ASI Series, vol. 151.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Utermohl, H., 1958. Zur Vervollkomnung der Quantitativen. Mitteilungen Internationale Vere- inigungfür Theoretische Angewandte und Limnologie, 9, 1–38.Google Scholar
Williams, B.G., Naylor, E. & Chatterton, T.D., 1985. The activity patterns of New Zealand mud crabs under field and laboratory conditions. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 89, 269–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J.A., 1979. A semilunar rhythm of locomotor activity and moult synchrony in the sandbeach amphipod Talitrus saltator. In Cyclic Phenomena in Marine Plants and Animals. Proceedings of the 13th European Marine Biology Symposium, Isle of Man, 1978 (ed. E., Naylor and R.G., Hartnoll), pp. 407–414. Oxford: Pergamon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar