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Dynamics of Colonization by the Beadlet Anemone, Actinia Equina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

R. C. Brace
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD
D. L. J. Quicke
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD

Extract

Colonization of the littoral zone presents many problems to both sessile and relatively sessile invertebrates. These may be especially acute for inhabitants of the upper reaches of this zone, since suitable niches are usually sparsely distributed there, and are often ephemeral in nature. Consequently, both intraand inter-specific competition for space is likely to be particularly intense.

The widely distributed and abundant, beadlet anemone, Actinia equina L., in common with a number of other littoral anthozoans, is apparently capable of both asexual (apomixis or somatic embryogenesis; Polteva, 1963; Gashout & Ormond, 1979; Orr, Thorpe & Carter, 1982) and sexual (Carter & Thorp, 1979) reproduction. The former results in the production of young, which are brooded within the coelenteron and which appear most suited to local dispersal, whilst the latter, if it occurs, is assumed to involve either ovipary or larvipary followed by a planktonic phase. Study of this species therefore affords an opportunity to investigate the dynamics of colonization and dispersal in an heterogeneous environment, in relation to flexibility in reproductive tactics.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1986

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