ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Ecosystem Ecology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1599285
Biogeographic Variation in the Impact of Predation and Secondary Foundation Species on Recruitment and Growth of Sessile Mangrove Prop Root Communities
Provisionally accepted
- 1Invasive Plant Research Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service (USDA), Fort Lauderdale, United States
- 2Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, United States
- 3Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
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Predation and secondary foundation species play crucial roles in structuring sessile mangrove prop root communities, but their relative importance and interactions across biogeographic gradients remain poorly understood. This study investigated the impact of predation and secondary foundation species on mangrove prop root epibiont assemblages along a latitudinal gradient in Florida. Predator exclusion treatments were deployed at four sites spanning tropical to temperate zones, and community development was monitored over six months. The results showed that predation effects shifted with latitude, from increasing species richness in the south while reducing it in the north. Secondary foundation species, such as sponges, oysters, and barnacles, gener-ally outcompeted other species for space in early colonization stages but tended to increase biodiversity when space was not limiting. Secondary foundation species also exhibited context-dependent associations with species richness across the latitudinal gradient. Sponges and oysters tended to enhance species richness under reduced predation pressure, while barnacles generally had negative effects at higher latitudes. Multivariate analyses revealed that the interaction between predation and latitude explained more variation in community structure than predation alone, and secondary foundation species contributed significantly to these patterns. The findings support the predation hypothesis and facilitation by secondary foundation species in shaping mangrove prop root communities shifts across biogeographic gradients, which provides insights into the complex interactions structuring mangrove epibiont communities.
Keywords: foundation species, Mangroves, predation, Florida, Symbiosis, benthic, latitudinal gradient
Received: 24 Mar 2025; Accepted: 22 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Aquino-Thomas, Sears and Proffitt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jessene Aquino-Thomas, Invasive Plant Research Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service (USDA), Fort Lauderdale, United States
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