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Assemblage shift following population collapse of a non-indigenous bivalve in an urban lagoon

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Abstract

The quahog Mercenaria mercenaria has been introduced repeatedly to the Pacific coast of North America, but only one population is known to have become established. In the 1970s, the population of M. mercenaria at Colorado Lagoon, in Los Angeles County, California (33o46′16″N, 118o08′05″W), was estimated at more than 300,000 individuals. To determine the current status of this non-indigenous species (NIS), in 2009, we sampled 57 intertidal and 20 shallow subtidal plots, identifying and quantifying collected bivalves. No quahogs were found among the 2,490 living bivalves in our plots, though two were found intertidally outside of our plots. The M. mercenaria population has thus collapsed since 1980, but the native community has not recovered. Six of the fourteen living bivalve species we encountered were NIS; three are new records for the location, including the clam Venerupis philippinarum, which made up 87.6% of collected individuals. Though M. mercenaria is likely on its way to extinction on the US Pacific coast, the bivalve assemblage at this location remains heavily dominated by NIS.

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Acknowledgments

We thank T. Parker and E. Zahn for facilitating our work at Colorado Lagoon and for answering many questions about the history and management of the lagoon. Intertidal surveys would not have been possible without the help of numerous volunteers from CSU Fullerton, CSU Long Beach, and the residential neighborhood surrounding Colorado Lagoon. We are grateful to Dr. P. Valentich-Scott for verifying identifications, Dr. J. Harding for estimating the ages of two specimens of Mercenaria mercenaria, and T. Vu and L. Cano for measuring many clams. Drs. J. Carlton, C. Lowe, D. Reish, and C. Whitcraft provided much appreciated information about the site and its inhabitants. Drs. J. Carlton, F. Bulleri, C. Whitcraft, and an anonymous reviewer made very helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper. This work was partially supported by the Departments of Biological Science of both CSU Fullerton and CSU Long Beach.

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  1. Scottie Y. Henderson

    Present address: Department of Biology, Cerritos College, 11110 Alondra Blvd., Norwalk, CA, 90650, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Science, California State University Fullerton, P.O. Box 6850, Fullerton, CA, 92834-6850, USA

    Jennifer L. Burnaford & Scottie Y. Henderson

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, California State University Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA, 90840, USA

    Bruno Pernet

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  1. Jennifer L. Burnaford
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  2. Scottie Y. Henderson
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  3. Bruno Pernet
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Correspondence to Jennifer L. Burnaford.

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Communicated by F. Bulleri.

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Burnaford, J.L., Henderson, S.Y. & Pernet, B. Assemblage shift following population collapse of a non-indigenous bivalve in an urban lagoon. Mar Biol 158, 1915–1927 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-011-1703-x

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