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The effect of predation on the life histories of Littorina obtusata and Littorina mariae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Gray A. Williams
Gray A. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Bristol University, Bristol, BS8 1UG
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Abstract

Littorina obtusata is an epiphytic gastropod which lives for three to four years on its host Ascophyllum nodosum, a long-lived brown alga. Most of the population consists of adults, present throughout the year in the size range 14 to 17 mm. Newly hatched individuals appear between April and October with a peak in July; the immature winkles grow to merge with the adult cohort in May.

In contrast Littorina mariae is an annual; newly hatched individuals grow to maturity by the winter of their first year. Those reaching maturity overwinter as adults but very few live beyond spring of their second year. The population dynamics of L. mariae are closely linked with changes in the biomass of the alga Fucus serratus on which it lives.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 72 , Issue 2 , May 1992 , pp. 403 - 416
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1992

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