Grazing Snails Rule the Waves

 

"Coral reefs and seashores largely look the way they do because large fish and urchins eat most of the seaweed that might otherwise cover them, but a major new study has found that the greatest impact of all comes from an unexpected quarter -- small marine snails.

The study published in the journal Ecology Letters is the largest of its kind ever undertaken into the ecological impacts of marine grazing animals: it was led by Associate Professor Alistair Poore, of the UNSW Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, who worked with an international team of 10 researchers.

It found that, on average, marine herbivores remove almost 70% of the plant material growing on the sea floor -- an effect far greater than grazing animals have on land plants."


via phys.org

[creefer]

Good article, Jim.