Authors: Nicholas Hanekom
Publish Date: 2007/06/20
Volume: 10, Issue: 2, Pages: 233-244
Abstract
The introduced mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis is progressively increasing in abundance along the south coast of South Africa Quantitative 01 m2 samples were collected in the midzone of an indigenous Perna perna mussel bed in the 1980s prior to the arrival M galloprovincialis 12 and in the 2000s during the M galloprovincialis invasion 16 In addition in situ counts of M galloprovincialis were done on eight occasions between 1993 and 2005 and in the low and highzones on four occasions In the midzone M galloprovincialis was absent until 1987 its mean densities were low 15 individuals/01 m2 between 1993 and 1996 but thereafter increased steadily peaking in 2004 at 721 individuals/01 m2 before declining in 2005 331 individuals/01 m2 The greatest densities of M galloprovincialis were recorded at the highzone 1121 individuals/01 m2 and the smallest in the lowzone As M galloprovincialis numbers increased there was an associated but smaller decline in P perna numbers and the overall density of mussels increased significantly P 005 No major change was recorded in the size composition of P perna The density of associated fauna differed significantly P 001 between sampling dates with the lowest and highest values being recorded near the ‘beginning’ 2001 and ‘end’ 2005 of the invasion period respectively These differences were largely due to variations in the density of barnacles and the toothed barnacle Chthamalus dentatus appeared to be the only associated faunal species that was directly affected by the M galloprovincialis invasion experiencing a significantly P ≤ 005 but temporary decline in density and biomass valuesSouth African National Parks SANParks are thanked for financial and logistical support I also gratefully acknowledge contributions of the following persons R M Randall for commenting on the draft manuscript A K Riley for administrative help D Colenbrander E Kivett L Munyai and D Joubert for field and laboratory assistance and R M Fisher for help with the artwork I am greatly indebted to the referees who provided detailed and constructive suggestions for improving of the manuscript
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