Interactions between Zostera capensis, Callianassa kraussi and Upogebia africana:: deductions from field surveys in Langebaan Lagoon, South Africa

Callianassid sandprawns and eelgrasses have been postulated to have mutually negative effects on each other. The relationship between Callianassa kraussi and Zostera capensis was investigated in Langebaan Lagoon on the west coast of South Africa by correlative field surveys. Seven facts point to mutually antagonistic interactions between the species: (1) cover of Z. capensis was negatively correlated with density of C. kraussi; (2) Z. capensis was largely confined to the high shore, whereas C. kraussi occurred in unvegetated sandbanks below the eelgrass beds; (3) at sites where Z. capensis was absent, C. kraussi extended farther up the shore than in its presence; (4) C. kraussi reached a larger maximum size in sandbanks than in beds of Z. capensis; (5) immediately below eelgrass beds there was a 'frontier zone'where above-ground Z. capensis was absent but below-ground root-rhizomes appeared to exclude C. kraussi; (6) sediment penetrability was greater in sandbanks than in eelgrass beds; (7) rate of burrowing by C. kraussi was faster in unvegetated sandbanks than in eelgrass beds. Conversely, the density and sizes of the mudprawn Upogebia africana were greater in beds of Z. capensis than in sandflats dominated by C. kraussi. Although this evidence is correlative, it suggests that Z. capensis excludes C. kraussi because it stabilises the sediment and inhibits burrowing, and that C. kraussi prevents establishment of eelgrass beds by destabilising the sediment and suspending material that smothers the eelgrass. In the process, two distinct habitats are created. U. africana may benefit directly from eelgrass because it requires stable sediment for its semipermanent U-tubes; but also indirectly because Z. capensis excludes C. kraussi, which may disrupt these feeding burrows. At the head of the lagoon where sediments are very fine and compact, U. africana occurs both in and below the eelgrass bed, and coexists with at least low densities of C. kraussi, although Z. capensis and C. kraussi are still negatively correlated.