RT journal article
T1 Selection of habitat by a marine amphipod
A1 Gestoso García, Ignacio José
A1 Olabarria, Celia
A1 Troncoso, Jesús
A2 Biología
AB Marine algae are known to provide habitats for a wide range of marine organisms.Populations of marine epiphytal invertebrates are generalists and are lessadapted to live in only one macroalga species. However, there are some examplesof local adaptation and, in particular, amphipods have shown strong hostspecificity. Amphitholina cuniculus, an amphipod with an alga-burrowing habit,has been mainly observed in Bifurcaria bifurcata mats on the intertidal rockyshores of the southern region of the Galician coast (NW Spain; 42º11.27′ N,8º48.25′ W). We designed a laboratory experiment conducted in June 2009 toanalyse the association between the amphipod and the macroalga. In particular,we hypothesised that (i) this species would exhibit different behaviour duringthe day and at night, and (ii) adults of A. cuniculus would prefer B. bifurcataas habitat rather than Fucus vesiculosus or Sargassum muticum. Results supportedthe hypothesis that adults of A. cuniculus preferred B. bifurcata,although such preferences did not show the day/night variability predicted.This amphipod might be considered a specialist species, at least on rocky intertidalshores along the Galician coast.
PB Wiley
SN 1439-0485
YR 2012
FD 2012
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/34932
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/34932
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 15-nov-2026