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Patch dynamics of mussel beds near São Sebastião (São Paulo), Brazil

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Abstract

In permanent quadrats on exposed and protected shores near São Sebastião (São Paulo), Brazil, changes in percent cover of mussels [Brachidontes solisianus (d'Orbigny)] and barnacles [Chthamalus stellatus bisinuatus (Pilsbury)] were followed from November 1979 through December 1982. Mussels gradually disappeared from both shores, while barnacles came to dominate the exposed, but not the protected, shore. Decreases in percent cover of mussels were related to periods of higher temperatures. Mussels were only transient dominants of the mid-intertidal zone due to lack of recruitment and high summer mortality. This is probably because the study was carried out near the northern limit of their occurrence as a dominant of mid-intertidal communities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia Geral, Instituto de Biocéências e Centro de Biologia Marinha, Universidade de São Paulo, São Sebastião (São Paulo), Brasil

    J. A. Petersen

  2. Duke University Marine Laboratory, 28516, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA

    J. P. Sutherland & S. Ortega

Authors
  1. J. A. Petersen
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  2. J. P. Sutherland
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  3. S. Ortega
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Communicated by J. M. Lawrence, Tampa

Deceased

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Petersen, J.A., Sutherland, J.P. & Ortega, S. Patch dynamics of mussel beds near São Sebastião (São Paulo), Brazil. Marine Biology 93, 389–393 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00401106

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00401106

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