INVESTIGADORES
IRIBARNE Oscar Osvaldo
artículos
Título:
A non-indigenous Crassostrea species in Southwest Atlantic salt marshes affects mortality of the cordgrass Spartina alterniflora
Autor/es:
LOMOVASKY, B; ALVAREZ, FERNANDA; ADDINO, M.; D. I. MONTEMAYOR; O. IRIBARNE,
Revista:
JOURNAL OF SEA RESEARCH
Editorial:
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014 vol. 90 p. 16 - 22
ISSN:
1385-1101
Resumen:
Biological invasions in marine and coastal systems may produce new trophic and nontrophic interactions
influencing the structure of the invaded community. In the intertidal salt marshes of Samborombón Bay
(36°19′20″S, 56°46′26″W; mouth of La Plata River; Argentina), there is a new non-indigenous oyster species,
Crassostrea sp., which settles on the dominant smooth cordgrass Spartina alterniflora. Here, we analyzed if the
oyster affects S. alterniflora. Sampling showed that density of live plant was similar across intertidal levels, but
there were higher density of dead plant stems at low intertidal levels. This pattern coincideswith higher density
and larger shell size of Crassostrea sp. at the lowintertidalwhere oysters are attached to the basal part of the plant
stems. An experiment manipulating oysters attached to S. alterniflora stems and oyster mimics shows that
Crassostrea sp. can indeed increase mortality of S. alterniflora. The negative effect of bivalves on plant could be because
several oysters settle around the Spartina stem, and by growing during the year, strangle the plants increasing
their mortality rate. Together, all these evidences strongly suggest that these non-indigenous oysters can
control the lower intertidal level of plant distribution in this system.