Effects of caging on the development of a sessile epifaunal community

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Abstract
In previous published studies on the effects of predation pressure in epibenthic communities, predator exclusion experiments (caging) generally were employed. The effects of caging on a fouling community are examined using experimental panels and several different types of control. The data show that caging per se, and not predation, accounts for the observed differences in species composition and abundance between treatments, mainly by affecting the settlement of larvae. Caging dramatically increased abundance of the solitary ascidians Ciona intestinalis and Ascidiella aspersa and significantly reduced cover of the barnacle Elminius modestus. Differing effects on other abundantly occurring species (colonial ascidians, hydroids and tubicolous amphipods) were also determined. Caging probably exerts its effects on the contained communities by reducing water movement and light intensity. This was tested by using controls designed to separate these variables. The most important effect on barnacles and hydroids is probably reduced current speed; solitary ascidians are influenced by current speed, light and the presence of earlier colonists.

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