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Sources of variation in microscopic epibiont communities on intertidal rocky organisms in Niigata, Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2026

Nandakumar Kanavillil Open the ORCID record for Nandakumar Kanavillil [Opens in a new window]  and
Yoshitake Takada
Nandakumar Kanavillil*
Affiliation:
Department of Sustainability Sciences, Lakehead University, Orillia, ON, Canada
Yoshitake Takada
Affiliation:
Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Yokohama, Japan
*
Corresponding author: Nandakumar (Nanda) Kanavillil; Email: nkanavil@lakeheadu.ca
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Abstract

Microscopic epibionts are important components of an intertidal ecosystem. However, because the epibionts are established on habitats provided by basibiont (host) organisms, the epibionts are affected by both the characteristics of basibionts and the ambient environmental conditions. Here, we hypothesised that variations in the epibiont community were affected by the mobility, size, and surface roughness of the basibiont organisms, as well as by environmental conditions, which was tested over a one-month period in spring. Epibionts growing on 16 basibiont species belonging to Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Polyplacophora, and Echinoidea were collected from a rocky shore in Niigata, Japan. Most of the epibionts collected were diatoms, and the highest cell density of the epibionts was recorded on the surfaces of the limpet Cellana toreuma. The epibiont community changed significantly from April to May and was also shaped by the characteristics of the basibionts. The results indicated that basibionts with sessile, large, or smooth surfaces had higher taxonomic richness, Simpson diversity, and cell density of the epibionts than those with mobile, small, or rough surfaces. Multivariate analysis of the epibiont community confirmed the importance of these basibiont characteristics and the survey month. Six groups of epibiont communities were identified based on their contrasting sample communities, and each had its own indicator species. The results indicate that both environmental changes from April to May and changes in basibiont species promote changes in the epibiont community in this coastal region.

Keywords

basibiontsdiatomsepibiontsmolluscan shellsrocky shorespring

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Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 106 , 2026 , e7
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

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Footnotes

*

This article was originally published with an error in the title. This has now been corrected.

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