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
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/135014

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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
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format article
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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
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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589-606
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