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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Artículo científico |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Proceedings. Biological sciences
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40628470/ |
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Table of Contents:
- Sunflower sea star chemical cues locally reduce kelp consumption by eliciting a flee response in red sea urchins. Mancuso, Raphael T Gravem, Sarah A Campbell, Rose S Hunter, Nathan Raimondi, Pete Galloway, Aaron W E Kroeker, Kristy J Animals Kelp Sea Urchins Food Chain Predatory Behavior Starfish Cues Ecosystem Predator loss can cause shifts in ecosystem state, especially when accompanied by changes in the behaviour of its prey. The recent decline of predatory sunflower sea stars and a coincident a decline of kelp forests across the northeastern Pacific raises questions about their role in kelp forest ecosystem maintenance and recovery. While may support kelp forests by consuming herbivorous sea urchins, less is known about their non-consumptive effects, especially in degraded habitats. Here, we ask: How do the non-consumptive effects of this predator vary among prey species, and what are the emergent effects on community-level grazing pressure in a degraded habitat when kelp is reintroduced? We conducted a field experiment, where we deployed kelp blades in urchin barrens at discrete distances from caged and control cages for 24 h. We demonstrate a reduction in the density of red sea urchins nearest the sunflower star and no effect on green sea urchins . Our results suggest the chemical cue of elicits a localized landscape of fear of approximately 15 m that suppresses grazing, and that the non-consumptive effects of on sea urchin behaviour may be important for kelp restoration.