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Nutrient Enrichment Affects Recruitment Of Oysters And Barnacles In A Mangrove Forest, Todd E. Minchinton, Louise A. Mckenzie

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We tested the hypothesis that nutrient enrichment affects recruitment of the oyster Saccostrea glomerataand the barnacle Hexaminius popeiana, which are dominant occupiers of space on tree trunks in temperate mangrove forests in New South Wales, Australia. We measured recruitment on artificial settlement plates at high and low intertidal levels under ambient conditions and where we manipulated nutrient levels by adding fertiliser to the water column for 2 mo. To determine whether nutrients influenced temporal patterns of settlement and early mortality of larvae, we quantified recruitment for 2 sampling intervals: on plates that were replaced 4 times at 2 …