Buñuel, Xavier, Alcoverro, Teresa, Boada, Jordi, Zinkunegi, Leire, Smith, Timothy M., Barrera, Anaïs, Casas, Marc, Farina, Simone, Pérez, Marta, Romero, Javier, Arthur, Rohan, and Pagès, Jordi F. (2023) Indirect grazing-induced mechanisms contribute to the resilience of Mediterranean seagrass meadows to sea urchin herbivory. Oikos, 2023 (6). e09520.

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Abstract

Plant–herbivore interactions are often regulated by a series of direct and indirect buffer mechanisms (compensatory or defensive plant responses, population control, alternative resources) that can determine the relative stability of the system. In plant-dominated marine environments, these mechanisms are particularly important given how vulnerable these systems are to strong consumer pressure. Here, we evaluate the presence and, where possible, the strength, of five mechanisms that get activated under high herbivory pressure and are capable of dampening their effects in a seagrass meadow ecosystem: 1) seagrass compensatory growth, 2) increase in plant resistance, 3) availability of alternative resources, 4) predatory control and 5) density-dependent control. We assessed these mechanisms for the interaction between the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica and the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus through a short-term series of controlled field and laboratory experiments after simulated or natural herbivory events. Of the five mechanisms tested, we found that three mechanisms – availability of alternative resources, increased predation rate and reduction in sea urchin numbers – effectively dampened herbivory and worked as potential buffering mechanisms. In contrast, plant compensatory growth and resistance did not show clear responses. While compensatory growth and plant resistance are direct plant mechanism to tolerate the effects of herbivory, the rest are indirect mechanisms that begin with a modification of a plant trait (i.e. canopy height) that influences other species preference and/or behaviour, which in turn influences plant consumption. These adaptive behaviours may be a crucial and often overlooked factor in the remarkable resilience that Mediterranean seagrass ecosystems show to herbivory.

Item ID:	78254
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1600-0706
Copyright Information:	© 2023 The Authors. Oikos published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic Society Oikos. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Date Deposited:	06 Jun 2023 04:26
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3108 Plant biology > 310801 Phycology (incl. marine grasses) @ 50% 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 50%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180201 Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems @ 100%
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