Abstract
THE food of Patella vulgata, so far as we know at present, consists mainly of small Algæ including diatoms1 which it scrapes from the rocks by means of its radula, but it will also eat larger plants2. Orton3 included a note on Patella eating food-paths in green Algæ on piers. Moore and Sproston4 noted that the growth of Algæ was limited by the browsing of limpets, and Moore5 has estimated their food requirements from observations on individuals clearing an algal felt. The importance of this browsing habit in connexion with foreshore ecology does not, however, appear to have been sufficiently realized. The following experiment illustrates this importance in striking fashion.
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References
Graham, A., Trans. Roy. Soc., 57, 287 (1932).
Davis, J. A., and Fleure, H. J., "Patella", L.M.B.C. Memoir, 10, 5 (1903).
Orton, J. H., J. Mar. Biol. Assoc., 10, 257 (1914).
Moore, H. B., and Sproston, N. G., J. Anim. Ecol., 9, 320 (1940).
Moore, H. B., Proc. Malac. Soc., 23, 117 (1938).
Orton, J. H., Nature, 158, 173 (1946).
Eslick, A., Proc. Linn. Soc., 152, 45 (1940).
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JONES, N. Browsing of Patella. Nature 158, 557–558 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158557b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158557b0
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