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Competition and facilitation between germlings of Ascophyllum nodosum and Fucus vesiculosus

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Abstract

Competitive interactions between germlings of Ascophyllum nodosum (L) Le Jolis and Fucus vesiculosus L. were studied both in the laboratory and on a shore of the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea. Both intra- and interspecific competition were investigated by comparing the performance of algal germlings both in monocultures and mixed populations of the two species. The growth of germlings of both species reduced with increasing density. F. vesiculosus always grew faster than Ascophyllum and did best in mixed cultures, whereas Ascophyllum did least well when mixed with Fucus germlings. Clearly the adverse effects of F. vesiculosus on A. nodosum were greater than those of Ascophyllum cohorts. At the same total density, the survival and growth of Ascophyllum declined with an increasing proportion of Fucus germlings, implying that poor recruitment of A. nodosum results from strong competition with F. vesiculosus. However, under desiccation stress on the shore, F. vesiculosus enhanced the survival of A. nodosum at the early germling stage even though competition may occur again at the late stage. Thus, whether interactions between germlings take the form of competition or facilitation depends on the environmental conditions.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments that improved the manuscript. This work was supported by Korea Research Foundation Grant (KRF-2002-002-C00089).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Biological Science and Institute of Basic Sciences, Wonkwang University, Iksan, 570-749 , Chonbuk, Korea

    Han Gil Choi

  2. Port Erin Marine Laboratory (School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool), Port Erin, Isle of Man, IM9 6JA, UK

    Trevor A. Norton

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  1. Han Gil Choi
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  2. Trevor A. Norton
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Correspondence to Han Gil Choi.

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Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe

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Choi, H.G., Norton, T.A. Competition and facilitation between germlings of Ascophyllum nodosum and Fucus vesiculosus. Marine Biology 147, 525–532 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-005-1593-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-005-1593-x

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