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Si us plau utilitzeu sempre aquest identificador per citar o enllaçar aquest document: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/127986
Evaluating potential artifacts of tethering techniques to estimate predation on sea urchins
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Measuring the strength of trophic interactions in marine systems has been central to our understanding of community structuring. Sea urchin tethering has been the method of choice to evaluate rates of predation in marine benthic ecosystems. As standardly practiced, this method involves piercing the urchin test, potentially introducing significant methodological artifacts that may influence survival or detection by predators. Here we assess possible artifacts of tethering comparing invasive (pierced) and non-invasive tethering techniques using the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. Specifically we looked at how degree of confinement and high water temperature (first order artifacts), and predator guild and size of the prey (second order artifacts) affect the survival and/or detectability of pierced urchins. Our results show that first order artifacts only arise when pierced sea urchins are placed in sheltered bays with confined waters, especially when water temperature reaches extremely high levels. Prey detectability did not increase in pierced sea urchins for the most common predators. Also, test piercing did not alter the preferences of predators for given prey sizes. We conclude that the standard tethering technique is a robust method to test relative rates of sea urchin predation. However, local conditions could increase mortality of the tethered urchin in sheltered bays or in very high temperature regimes. Under these conditions adequate pierced controls (within predator exclusions) need to be included in assays to evaluate artifactual sources of mortality.
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BOADA GARCÍA, Jordi, SANMARTÍ BOIXEDA, Neus, SELDEN, R. l., LUCAS, A., PÉREZ VALLMITJANA, Marta, ALCOVERRO I PEDROLA, Teresa, ROMERO, Javier (romero martinengo). Evaluating potential artifacts of tethering techniques to estimate predation on sea urchins. _Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology_. 2015. Vol. 417, núm. 17-22. [consulta: 30 de gener de 2026]. ISSN: 0022-0981. [Disponible a: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/127986]