Does spawning behavior minimize exposure to environmental stressors for encapsulated gastropod embryos on rocky shores? |
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Authors: | R Przeslawski A R Davis |
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Institution: | (1) Institute for Conservation Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia;(2) Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, 650 Life Sciences Building, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5245, USA |
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Abstract: | Adults of motile intertidal invertebrates are able to seek shelter to avoid environmental stress associated with low tides,
but embryos within egg masses are effectively sessile for the duration of their encapsulation. Gastropod egg masses from 34
taxa on two rocky shores in SE Australia (34°37′08″S, 150°92′03″E and 34°35′45″S, 150°53′20″E) were surveyed over 2 years
(June 2002–May 2004) to test the hypothesis that eggs are deposited in patterns that minimize exposure to environmental stress.
Egg masses were expected to be predominantly deposited in shaded habitats not prone to environmental extremes. It was also
anticipated that the deposition of egg masses in habitats exposed to UVR, desiccation, and/or extremes in temperature would
occur when exposure to these abiotic factors was minimized. Among the taxa investigated, only four species spawned in full
sun (Bembicium nanum, Nerita morio, Siphonaria zelandica and S. denticulata). Summer had the highest UVR index, water temperature, and air temperature as well as the lowest daytime tides. Univariate
and multivariate analyses confirmed that egg mass abundance was highest during summer, with no change in egg mass size. This
study shows that those species depositing egg masses on the surfaces of rock platforms do not adjust the seasonal timing or
macrohabitat location of their spawning to avoid physiologically stressful conditions, particularly UVR. Alternate reasons
for the evolution of egg mass deposition behavior in apparently sub-optimal habitats are discussed, and it is almost certainly
the complex interplay of a variety of highly species-specific factors that is responsible for the patterns observed. |
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