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Science 28 June 1985:
Vol. 228. no. 4707, pp. 1527 - 1528
DOI: 10.1126/science.228.4707.1527
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Articles

Brachiopods versus Mussels: Competition, Predation, and Palatability

CHARLES W. THAYER 1

1 Department of Geology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104

Unlike other shell-enclosed marine invertebrates, articulate brachiopods are repellent to predators. Fish, sea stars, snails, and crabs all prefer bivalve molluscs such as mussels to articulates. The mussels tested are mobile and out-compete immobile articulates when space is limited. In subtidal field experiments, mussels alone and predators alone each reduced the survivorship of articulates. However, adding mussels to articulates in the presence of ambient predation increased brachiopod survivorship by diverting predation from the brachiopods to the mussels. Competition from mussels (or mussel-like bivalves) is a plausible cause of the post-Paleozoic decline of articulates.

Submitted on May 4, 1984
Accepted on February 15, 1985


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
EPIFAUNA-DOMINATED BENTHIC SHELF ASSEMBLAGES: LESSONS FROM THE MODERN ADRIATIC SEA.
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SHORTENING THE GAP BETWEEN MODERN COMMUNITY ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY PALEOECOLOGY.
N. BONUSO (2007)
Palaios 22, 455-456
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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DRILLING FREQUENCIES IN RECENT BRACHIOPOD-MOLLUSK ASSOCIATIONS FROM THE SOUTHERN BRAZILIAN SHELF.
M. G. SIMOES, S. C. RODRIGUES, and M. KOWALEWSKI (2007)
Palaios 22, 143-154
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Secondary Evolutionary Escalation Between Brachiopods and Enemies of Other Prey.
M. Kowalewski, A. P. Hoffmeister, T. K. Baumiller, and R. K. Bambach (2005)
Science 308, 1774-1777
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Measuring relative abundance in fossil and living assemblages.
(2004)
Paleobiology 30, 1-4
Abundant Brachiopods on a Tropical, Upwelling-Influenced Shelf (Southeast Brazilian Bight, South Atlantic).
(2002)
Palaios 17, 277-286
Predation in the Paleozoic: Gastropod-Like Drillholes in Devonian Brachiopods.
S. A. Smith, S. A. SMITH, C. W. THAYER, and C. E. BRETT (1985)
Science 230, 1033-1035
   Abstract »    PDF »


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