Potential role of micro-predators in determining recruitment into a marine community

Abstract

In investigations of a New England marine community, the authors found significant predation exclusively on the earliest life-stages of several dominant species. The predators, the tiny gastropods, Mitrella lunata and Anachis avara, preyed selectively on newly-settled colonial ascidians, greatly lowering or eliminating recruitment of these species. This brief predation on early life-stages enabled other species to replace the competitively superior ascidians within the developing community. -from Authors