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Lookup NU author(s): Hannah Earp, Professor Pip MooreORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2022 The Authors. Artificial structures often support depauperate communities compared to natural rocky shores. Understanding variation in ecological success across shore types, particularly regarding habitat-forming species or those with structuring roles, is important to determine how artificial structure proliferation may influence ecosystem functioning and services. We investigated the population structure, sex ratio and reproductive potential of limpets on natural shores and artificial structures on Irish Sea coasts. Limpets were generally less abundant and Patella vulgata populations were often male dominated on artificial structures compared to natural shores, suggesting that shore type may influence these factors. P. vulgata length varied across sites within the Irish Sea (nested in coast and shore type) in autumn/winter, as well as temporally across sites along the Welsh coast. There was no difference in the proportion of P. vulgata in advanced stages of gonad development across shore types. The results suggest that rip-rap artificial structures may provide a habitat comparable to natural shores, however, the addition of ecological engineering interventions on artificial structures may allow limpet populations to better approximate those on natural shores.
Author(s): Earp HS, George R, Brooks PR, Farrugia Drakard V, Thompson BJ, Fisher B, Hayden R, Crowe TP, Moore PJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Marine Environmental Research
Year: 2023
Volume: 184
Print publication date: 01/02/2023
Online publication date: 22/12/2022
Acceptance date: 18/12/2022
Date deposited: 10/01/2023
ISSN (print): 0141-1136
ISSN (electronic): 1879-0291
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2022.105853
DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2022.105853
PubMed id: 36584493
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