Abstract
On subtidal hard substrata, Bryozoa are often very abundant, both in terms of numbers of colonies and numbers of species. To investigate how so many species are able to co-exist, often in close proximity to each other, subtidal material was dredged from an area of bryozoan-rich coarse “shelly” sea-bed off the south-west of the Isle of Man (British Isles) in autumn 1984 and 1985. A survey was performed on the distribution of colonies of eight common, encrusting cheilostome bryozoan species across the surfaces of four types of empty, disarticulated bivalve shells. Each species was found to be significantly commoner on certain substratum types such as rough surfaces or inner concave surfaces. Fenestrulina malusii (Audouin) showed a further, more specific, tendency to be signficantly more abundant on the grooves of the corrugated inner surfaces of left valves of Pecten maximus (L.). In general however there was much overlap in distribution and it is proposed that such large numbers of species are able to co-exist because of the evolution of different life-history strategies ensuring that each species uses the available temporally and spatially heterogenous substrata in subtly different ways; some species, for example, occupying substrata that are optimal to bryozoan growth and other species, by reaching maturity earlier, being able to inhabit more ephemeral suboptimal substrata.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature cited
Al-Ogily, S. M., Knight-Jones, E. W. (1977). Anti-fouling role of antibiotics produced by marine algae and bryozoans. Nature, Lond 265: 728–729
Allen, J. R. L. (1984). Experiments on the settling, overturning and entrainment of bivalve shells and related models. Sedimentology 31: 227–250
Aristegui, J. (1987). Introduccíon al estudio de las communidades de briozoos mas representativas del litoral de las Islas Canarias. Cah. Biol. mar. 28: 323–338
Best, M. A., Thorpe, J. P. (1986a). Feeding-current interactions and competition for food among the bryozoan epiphytes of Fucus serratus. Mar. Biol. 93: 371–375
Best, M. A., Thorpe, J. P. (1986b). Effects of food particle concentration on feeding current velocity in six species of Bryozoa. Mar. Biol. 93: 255–262
Bishop, J. D. D. (1987). Hermit crabs associated with bryozoan Hippoporida in British waters. Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Zool.) 52: 29–30
Bishop, J. D. D. (1988). Disarticulated bivalve shells as substrates for encrustation by the bryozoan Cribrilina puncturata in the Plio-Pleistocene red crag of eastern England. Palaeontology 31: 237–253
Brenchley, P. J., Newall, G. (1970). Flume experiments on the orientation and transport of models and shell valves. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclim. Palaeoecol. 7: 185–220
Bruce, J. R., Coleman, J. S., Jones, N. S. (1963). Marine fauna of the Isle of Man. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool
Buss, L. W. (1979). Habitat selection: directional growth and spatial refuges: why colonial animals have more hiding places. In: Larwood, G. P., Rosen, B. R. (eds.) Biology and systematics of colonial organisms. Academic Press, London, p. 459–477
Buss, L. W. (1980a). Competitive intransitivity and size-frequency distributions of interacting populations. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77: 5355–5359
Buss, L. W. (1980b). Bryozoan overgrowth interactions: the interdependence of competition for space and food. Nature, Lond. 281: 475–477
Buss, L. W. (1981) Mechanisms of competition between Onychocella alula (Hastings) and Antropora tincta (Hastings) on an eastern Pacific rocky shore. In: Larwood, G. P., Nielsen, C. (eds.) Recent and fossil Bryozoa. Olsen & Olsen, Fredensborg, Denmark, p. 39–49
Buss, L. W., Jackson, J. B. C. (1979). Competitive networks: nontransitive competitive relationships in cryptic coral reef environments. Am. Nat. 113: 223–234
Buss, L. W., Jackson, J. B. C. (1981). Planktonic food availability and suspension-feeder abundance: evidence of in situ depletion. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 49: 151–161
Cobioch, L. (1968). Contribution à la connaissance des peuplements benthiques de la Manche occidentale. Cah. Biol. mar. 9: 493–720
Cancino, J. M. (1986). Marine macroalgae as a substratum for sessile invertebrates: a study of Celleporella hyalina (Bryozoa) on fronds of Laminaria saccharina (Phaeophyta). Monografias biol. 4: 279–308
Connell, J. H. (1978). Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science, N.Y. 199: 1302–1310
Dyrynda, P. E. J. (1985). Functional allelochemistry in temperate waters: chemical defences of bryozoans. In: Nielsen, C., Larwood, G. P. (eds.) Bryozoa: Ordovician to Recent. Olsen & Olsen, Fredensborg, Denmark, p. 95–100
Eggleston, D. (1963). The marine Polyzoa of the Isle of Man. Unpublished thesis, University of Liverpool, Port Erin, Isle of Man
Eggleston, D. (1969). Marine fauna of the Isle of Man: revised lists of phylum: Entoprocta (= Kamptozoa) and Ectoprocta (= Bryozoa). Rep. mar. biol. Stn Port Erin 81: 57–80
Eggleston, D. (1972a) Patterns of reproduction in marine Ectoprocta off the south of the Isle of Man. J. nat. Hist. 6: 31–38
Eggleston, D. (1972b) Factors influencing the distribution of sublittoral ectoprocts off the south of the Isle of Man. J. nat. Hist. 6: 247–260
Gautier, Y.-V. (1962). Recherches ecologiques sur les Bryozoaires Cheilostomes en Mediterranean occidentale. Recl Trav. Stn mar. Endoume 38: p. 24
Gordon, D. P. (1971). Zooidal budding in the cheilostomatous bryozoan Fenestrulina malusii var. thyreophora. N. Z. Jl mar. Freshwat. Res. 5: 453–460
Harmelin, J.-G. (1977). Bryozoaires des iles d'Hyeres: cryptofaune bryozoologique des valves vides de Pinna nobilis recontrees dans les herbiers de Posidonies. Trav. scient. Parc nat. Port-Cros 3: 143–157
Hayward, P. J. (1973). Preliminary observations on settlement and growth in populations of Alcyonidium hirsutum (Fleming). In: Larwood, G. P. (ed.) Living and fossil Bryozoa. Academic Press, London and New York, p. 107–113
Hayward, P. J., Ryland, J. S. (1975). Growth, reproduction and larval dispersal in Alcyonidium hirsutum (Fleming) and some other Bryozoa. Pubbl. Staz. zool. Napoli 39: 226–241
Hayward, P. J., Ryland, J. S. (1979). British ascophoran bryozoans. Academic Press, London
Jackson, J. B. C. (1979a). Morphological strategies of sessile animals. In: Larwood, G. P., Rosen, B. R. (eds.) Biology and systematics of colonial organisms. Academic Press, London, p. 499–555
Jackson, J. B. C. (1979b). Overgrowth competition between encrusting cheilostome ectoprocts in a Jamaican cryptic reef environment. J. Anim. Ecol. 48: 805–824
Jackson, J. B. C. (1984). Ecology of cryptic coral reef communities. III. Abundance and aggregation of encrusting organisms with particular reference to cheilostome Bryozoa. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 75: 37–57
Jackson, J. B. C., Winston, J. E. (1982). Ecology of cryptic reef communities. I. Distribution and abundance of major groups of encrusting organisms. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 57: 135–147
Jones, N. S. (1951). The bottom fauna off the south of the Isle of Man. J. Anim. Ecol. 20: 132–141
Karlson, R. H. (1978). Predation and space utilisation patterns in a marine epifaunal community. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 31: 225–239
Kay, A. M., Keough, M. J. (1981). Occupation of patches in epifaunal communities on pier pilings and the bivalve Pinna bicolor at Edithburgh, South Australia. Oecologia 48: 123–130
Keough, M. J. (1984a). Dynamics of the epifauna of the bivalve Pinna bicolor: interactions among recruitment, predation and competition. Ecology 65: 677–688
Keough, M. J. (1984b). Effects of patch size on the abundance of sessile marine invertebrates. Ecology 65: 423–437
Keough, M. J., Downes, B. J. (1982). Recruitment of marine invertebrates: the role of active larval choices and early mortality. Oecologia 54: 348–352
Lidgard, S. (1984). Zooid and colony growth in encrusting cheilostome bryozoans. Palaeontology 28: 255–291
Menard, H. W., Boucot, A. J. (1951). Experiments on the movement of shells by water. Am. J. Sci. 249: 131–151
Nielsen, C. (1981). On morphology and reproduction of “Hippodiplosia” insculpta and Fenestrulina malusii (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata). Ophelia 20: 91–125
Osman, R. W. (1977). The establishment and development of a marine epifaunal community. Ecol. Monogr. 47: 37–63
Rubin, J. A. (1982). The degree of intransitivity and its measurement in an assemblage of encrusting cheilostome Bryozoa. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 60: 119–128
Rubin, J. A. (1985a). Mortality and avoidance of competitive overgrowth in encrusting Bryozoa. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 23: 291–299
Rubin, J. A. (1982b). Spatial and temporal interactions in subtidal epibenthic communities. Unpublished thesis, University of Reading
Russ, G. R. (1982). Overgrowth in marine epifaunal communities: competitive networks and hierarchies. Oecologia 53: 12–19
Ryland, J. S. (1959a). Experiments on the selection of algal substrates by polyzoan larvae. J. exp. Biol. 36: 613–631
Ryland, J. S. (1959b). The settlement of Polyzoa larvae on algae. Proc. int. Congr. Zool. 15: 230–239
Ryland, J. S. (1960). Experiments on the influence of light on the behaviour of polyzoan larvae. J. exp. Biol. 37: 783–800
Ryland, J. S. (1962). The effect of temperature on the photic response of polyzoan larvae. Sarsia 6: 41–48
Ryland, J. S. (1976). Behaviour, settlement and metamorphosis of bryozoan larvae: a review. Thalassia jugosl. 10: 239–262
Ryland, J. S., Hayward, P. J. (1977). British anascan bryozoans. Academic Press, London
Ryland, J. S., Stebbing, A. R. D. (1971). Settlement and orientated growth in epiphytic and epizooic bryozoans. Proc. 4th Eur. mar. Biol. Symp. 105–123. [Crisp, D. J. (ed.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge]
Silén, L. (1982). Multizooidal budding in Parasmittina trispinosa (Johnston) (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata). Acta zool., Stockh. 63: 25–32
Stebbing, A. R. D. (1972). Preferential settement of a bryozoan and serpulid larvae on the younger parts of Laminaria fronds. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K. 52: 765–772
Sutherland, J. P. (1978). Functional roles of Schizoporella and Styela in the fouling community at Beaufort, North Carlina. Ecology 59: 257–264
Taylor, P. D., Cook, P. L. (1981). Hippoporidra edax (Busk, 1859) and a revision of some living and fossil Hippoporidra (Bryozoa). Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Geol.) 35: 243–251
Thorpe, J. P., Clarke, D. R. K., Best, M. A. (1986). Natural variation in tentacle number in marine bryozoans. In: Nielsen, C., Larwood, G. P. (eds.) Bryozoa: Ordovician to Recent. Olsen & Olsen, Fredensborg, p. 319–328
Todd, C. D., Turner, S. J. (1986). Ecology of intertidal and sublittoral cryptic epifaunal assemblages. I. Experimental rationale and the analysis of larval settlement. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 99: 199–231
Todd, C. D., Turner, S. J. (1988). Ecology of intertidal and sublittoral cryptic epifaunal assemblages. II. Non-lethal overgrowth of encrusting bryozoans by colonial ascidians. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 115: 113–126
Ward, M. A. (1988). The ecology of subtidal encrusting bryozoans from Three temperate water communities off the south of the Isle of Man. Unpublished thesis, University of Liverpool
Winston, J. E., Jackson, J. B. C. (1984). Ecology of cryptic coral reef communities. IV. Community development and life-histories of encrusting cheilostome Bryozoa. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 76: 1–24
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by J. Mauchline, Oban
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ward, M.A., Thorpe, J.P. Assessment of space utilisation in a subtidal temperate bryozoan community. Mar. Biol. 103, 215–224 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00543350
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00543350