Universität zu Köln

Schoessow, Maik, Arndt, Hartmut ORCID: 0000-0003-2811-3595 and Becker, Georg (2016). Response of gastropod grazers to food conditions, current velocity, and substratum roughness. Limnologica, 58. S. 49 - 59. MUNICH: ELSEVIER GMBH. ISSN 1873-5851

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Abstract

Freshwater snails are widely distributed in running water systems. Most of them are feeding on biofilms attached to substrata. We used gastropods with different morphology and potentially different traits to analyse the effect of water currents and substratum roughness on the interactions between grazers and biofilms. The gastropods were exposed to naturally grown biofilms from the River Rhine that differed in age and in their artificial substratum roughness (mimicked by abrasive paper). The experiments were conducted in endless channels with paddle wheels where the current velocity could be set steplessly. The freshwater pulmonates Ancylus fluviatilis and Physella acuta as well as the freshwater prosobranchs Bithynia tentaculata and Potamopyrgus antipodarum were used as model organisms in this investigation. The time the snails remained on the test area related to the substratum roughness, and current velocity was used to compare the performance of the four snail species on different aged biofilms. In one experiment, the locomotive activity of snails was traced. Gastropods left substrata without biofilms and did not show different responses to biofilms of diverse ages with significant differences in their biochemical contents. Grazing by snails altered the biofilms in their chlorophyll-a content, ash-free dry mass, and ash mass. A current velocity above 0.12 m s(-1) drove B. tentaculata, P. acuta, and P. antipodarum off the test areas, only A. fluviatilis remained unaffected by the applied current velocities (up to 0.23 m s(-1)). The substratum roughness had no direct influence on the retention time of snails and their locomotive activity on the substrata, whereas the chlorophyll-a content of the biofilm strongly influenced snail activity. Substratum roughness had only an indirect influence on the behaviour of snails contrary to studies on marine snail species. (C) 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Schoessow, Maik UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Arndt, Hartmut UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-2811-3595 UNSPECIFIED Becker, Georg UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-276664
DOI:	10.1016/j.limno.2016.02.003
Journal or Publication Title:	Limnologica
Volume:	58
Page Range:	S. 49 - 59
Date:	2016
Publisher:	ELSEVIER GMBH
Place of Publication:	MUNICH
ISSN:	1873-5851
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language BITHYNIA-TENTACULATA PROSOBRANCHIA; POTAMOPYRGUS-ANTIPODARUM; ANCYLUS-FLUVIATILIS; STREAM MACROINVERTEBRATES; SURFACE-ROUGHNESS; GRAZING PATTERNS; PEDAL MUCUS; FLOW; SIZE; COLONIZATION Multiple languages Limnology Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/27666