Depth-related plasticity in the diet composition of <i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> (Echinoidea, Temnopleuridae) in nearshore environments off central Patagonia, Argentina
- Autores
- Gil, Damián Gaspar; Boraso, Alicia L.; Lopretto, Estela Celia; Zaixso, Héctor Eliseo
- Año de publicación
- 2021
- Idioma
- inglés
- Tipo de recurso
- artículo
- Estado
- versión publicada
- Descripción
- Pseudechinus magellanicus is one of the most abundant sea urchins in southern South America, but many aspects of its feeding ecology in nearshore environments remain unknown. Here, we aimed to analyze the variability of the diet composition along a coastal depth gradient from intertidal tidepools to upper circalittoral zones and examine the relation between seaweed availability and the diet composition at intertidal tidepools. A total of 118 food items, including seaweeds and animal components, were identified. The diet composition showed a large variation between the different coastal habitats present along the depth gradient studied. In tidepools, articulate coralline seaweeds (Corallina spp.), mussel shell fragments and small crustaceans were frequent in the gut contents, suggesting that this species behaves like a general omnivore but can also act as a mussel bioeroder when consuming epizoic algae and microeuendolithic organisms. In intertidal tidepools, the species showed a negative preference toward typical species of late successional stages such as Dictyota dichotoma, Adenocystis utricularis, Codium fragile and Chondria macrocarpa. Sea urchins from kelp forests showed higher dietary diversity than those from intertidal and deeper subtidal habitats, but with prevalence of kelps. At upper circalittoral soft bottoms, diverse detrital items as benthic diatoms, cyanobacteria and drifted algae were observed in gut contents, usually associated with fine sediments, indicating that P. magellanicus captures drifted algae and behaves like a biofilm feeder. This trophic plasticity may allow this species to occupy contrasting habitats and may also contribute to explain its wide distribution in southern South America.
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo - Materia
-
Ciencias Naturales
Benthos
Intertidal
Grazing
Echinodermata
Sea urchins - Nivel de accesibilidad
- acceso abierto
- Condiciones de uso
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Repositorio
- Institución
- Universidad Nacional de La Plata
- OAI Identificador
- oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/135014
Ver los metadatos del registro completo
id |
SEDICI_0d0c9f6e18f31ec94c2d0a9aa4182d6b |
---|---|
oai_identifier_str |
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/135014 |
network_acronym_str |
SEDICI |
repository_id_str |
1329 |
network_name_str |
SEDICI (UNLP) |
spelling |
Depth-related plasticity in the diet composition of <i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> (Echinoidea, Temnopleuridae) in nearshore environments off central Patagonia, ArgentinaGil, Damián GasparBoraso, Alicia L.Lopretto, Estela CeliaZaixso, Héctor EliseoCiencias NaturalesBenthosIntertidalGrazingEchinodermataSea urchins<i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> is one of the most abundant sea urchins in southern South America, but many aspects of its feeding ecology in nearshore environments remain unknown. Here, we aimed to analyze the variability of the diet composition along a coastal depth gradient from intertidal tidepools to upper circalittoral zones and examine the relation between seaweed availability and the diet composition at intertidal tidepools. A total of 118 food items, including seaweeds and animal components, were identified. The diet composition showed a large variation between the different coastal habitats present along the depth gradient studied. In tidepools, articulate coralline seaweeds (<i>Corallina</i> spp.), mussel shell fragments and small crustaceans were frequent in the gut contents, suggesting that this species behaves like a general omnivore but can also act as a mussel bioeroder when consuming epizoic algae and microeuendolithic organisms. In intertidal tidepools, the species showed a negative preference toward typical species of late successional stages such as <i>Dictyota dichotoma</i>, <i>Adenocystis utricularis</i>, <i>Codium fragile</i> and <i>Chondria macrocarpa</i>. Sea urchins from kelp forests showed higher dietary diversity than those from intertidal and deeper subtidal habitats, but with prevalence of kelps. At upper circalittoral soft bottoms, diverse detrital items as benthic diatoms, cyanobacteria and drifted algae were observed in gut contents, usually associated with fine sediments, indicating that <i>P. magellanicus</i> captures drifted algae and behaves like a biofilm feeder. This trophic plasticity may allow this species to occupy contrasting habitats and may also contribute to explain its wide distribution in southern South America.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo2021-06info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdf589-606http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/135014enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1386-2588info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1573-5125info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/0165-1404info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1380-8427info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s10452-021-09847-4info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-29T11:31:57Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/135014Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-29 11:31:57.349SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Depth-related plasticity in the diet composition of <i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> (Echinoidea, Temnopleuridae) in nearshore environments off central Patagonia, Argentina |
title |
Depth-related plasticity in the diet composition of <i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> (Echinoidea, Temnopleuridae) in nearshore environments off central Patagonia, Argentina |
spellingShingle |
Depth-related plasticity in the diet composition of <i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> (Echinoidea, Temnopleuridae) in nearshore environments off central Patagonia, Argentina Gil, Damián Gaspar Ciencias Naturales Benthos Intertidal Grazing Echinodermata Sea urchins |
title_short |
Depth-related plasticity in the diet composition of <i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> (Echinoidea, Temnopleuridae) in nearshore environments off central Patagonia, Argentina |
title_full |
Depth-related plasticity in the diet composition of <i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> (Echinoidea, Temnopleuridae) in nearshore environments off central Patagonia, Argentina |
title_fullStr |
Depth-related plasticity in the diet composition of <i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> (Echinoidea, Temnopleuridae) in nearshore environments off central Patagonia, Argentina |
title_full_unstemmed |
Depth-related plasticity in the diet composition of <i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> (Echinoidea, Temnopleuridae) in nearshore environments off central Patagonia, Argentina |
title_sort |
Depth-related plasticity in the diet composition of <i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> (Echinoidea, Temnopleuridae) in nearshore environments off central Patagonia, Argentina |
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Gil, Damián Gaspar Boraso, Alicia L. Lopretto, Estela Celia Zaixso, Héctor Eliseo |
author |
Gil, Damián Gaspar |
author_facet |
Gil, Damián Gaspar Boraso, Alicia L. Lopretto, Estela Celia Zaixso, Héctor Eliseo |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Boraso, Alicia L. Lopretto, Estela Celia Zaixso, Héctor Eliseo |
author2_role |
author author author |
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
Ciencias Naturales Benthos Intertidal Grazing Echinodermata Sea urchins |
topic |
Ciencias Naturales Benthos Intertidal Grazing Echinodermata Sea urchins |
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv |
<i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> is one of the most abundant sea urchins in southern South America, but many aspects of its feeding ecology in nearshore environments remain unknown. Here, we aimed to analyze the variability of the diet composition along a coastal depth gradient from intertidal tidepools to upper circalittoral zones and examine the relation between seaweed availability and the diet composition at intertidal tidepools. A total of 118 food items, including seaweeds and animal components, were identified. The diet composition showed a large variation between the different coastal habitats present along the depth gradient studied. In tidepools, articulate coralline seaweeds (<i>Corallina</i> spp.), mussel shell fragments and small crustaceans were frequent in the gut contents, suggesting that this species behaves like a general omnivore but can also act as a mussel bioeroder when consuming epizoic algae and microeuendolithic organisms. In intertidal tidepools, the species showed a negative preference toward typical species of late successional stages such as <i>Dictyota dichotoma</i>, <i>Adenocystis utricularis</i>, <i>Codium fragile</i> and <i>Chondria macrocarpa</i>. Sea urchins from kelp forests showed higher dietary diversity than those from intertidal and deeper subtidal habitats, but with prevalence of kelps. At upper circalittoral soft bottoms, diverse detrital items as benthic diatoms, cyanobacteria and drifted algae were observed in gut contents, usually associated with fine sediments, indicating that <i>P. magellanicus</i> captures drifted algae and behaves like a biofilm feeder. This trophic plasticity may allow this species to occupy contrasting habitats and may also contribute to explain its wide distribution in southern South America. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo |
description |
<i>Pseudechinus magellanicus</i> is one of the most abundant sea urchins in southern South America, but many aspects of its feeding ecology in nearshore environments remain unknown. Here, we aimed to analyze the variability of the diet composition along a coastal depth gradient from intertidal tidepools to upper circalittoral zones and examine the relation between seaweed availability and the diet composition at intertidal tidepools. A total of 118 food items, including seaweeds and animal components, were identified. The diet composition showed a large variation between the different coastal habitats present along the depth gradient studied. In tidepools, articulate coralline seaweeds (<i>Corallina</i> spp.), mussel shell fragments and small crustaceans were frequent in the gut contents, suggesting that this species behaves like a general omnivore but can also act as a mussel bioeroder when consuming epizoic algae and microeuendolithic organisms. In intertidal tidepools, the species showed a negative preference toward typical species of late successional stages such as <i>Dictyota dichotoma</i>, <i>Adenocystis utricularis</i>, <i>Codium fragile</i> and <i>Chondria macrocarpa</i>. Sea urchins from kelp forests showed higher dietary diversity than those from intertidal and deeper subtidal habitats, but with prevalence of kelps. At upper circalittoral soft bottoms, diverse detrital items as benthic diatoms, cyanobacteria and drifted algae were observed in gut contents, usually associated with fine sediments, indicating that <i>P. magellanicus</i> captures drifted algae and behaves like a biofilm feeder. This trophic plasticity may allow this species to occupy contrasting habitats and may also contribute to explain its wide distribution in southern South America. |
publishDate |
2021 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2021-06 |
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Articulo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv |
http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/135014 |
url |
http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/135014 |
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1386-2588 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1573-5125 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/0165-1404 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1380-8427 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s10452-021-09847-4 |
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
rights_invalid_str_mv |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf 589-606 |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:SEDICI (UNLP) instname:Universidad Nacional de La Plata instacron:UNLP |
reponame_str |
SEDICI (UNLP) |
collection |
SEDICI (UNLP) |
instname_str |
Universidad Nacional de La Plata |
instacron_str |
UNLP |
institution |
UNLP |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
alira@sedici.unlp.edu.ar |
_version_ |
1844616199090995200 |
score |
13.070432 |