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Local elimination of Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides: indirect evidence of sacoglossan herbivory?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2002

Cynthia D. Trowbridge
Affiliation:
Hatfield Marine Science Center, Oregon State University, Newport, OR 97365, USA, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

A local population of the introduced green macroalga Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides was investigated in Oban in the district of Argyll, western Scotland. Periodic surveys demonstrated that sacoglossan densities (Elysia viridis and Placida dendritica) were unusually high in 1997 and early 1998, slug herbivory noticeably damaged algal thalli, and the local algal population was decimated. These patterns provide indirect evidence of the significance of slug herbivory on the introduced alga.

Type
Short Communication
Copyright
© 2002 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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