Consumer communities play an important role in maintaining ecosystem structure and function. In seagrass systems, algal regulation by mesograzers provides a critical maintenance function which promotes seagrass productivity. Consumer communities also represent a key link in trophic energy transfer and buffer negative effects to seagrasses associated with eutrophication. Such interactions are well documented in the literature regarding temperate systems, however, it is not clear if the same relationships exist in tropical systems. This study aimed to identify if the invertebrate communities within a tropical, multispecies seagrass meadow moderated epiphyte abundance under natural conditions by comparing algal abundance across two sites at Green Island, Australia. At each site, paired plots were established where invertebrate assemblages were perturbed via insecticide manipulation and compared to unmanipulated plots. An 89% increase in epiphyte abundance was seen after six weeks of experimental invertebrate reductions within the system. Using generalised linear mixed-effect models and path analysis, we found that the abundance of invertebrates was negatively correlated with epiphyte load on seagrass leaves. Habitat species richness was seen to be positively correlated with invertebrate abundance. These findings mirrored those of temperate systems, suggesting this mechanism operates similarly across latitudinal gradients.

中文翻译：

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初级生产者的丰富度和消费者的丰富度介导了热带海草系统中的附生植物负荷

消费者社区在维护生态系统的结构和功能方面发挥着重要作用。在海草系统中，中皮草对藻类的调节提供了至关重要的维护功能，可提高海草的生产率。消费者社区也代表了营养能量转移的关键环节，并缓冲了与富营养化有关的海草的负面影响。这种相互作用在有关温带系统的文献中有很好的记载，但是，尚不清楚热带系统中是否存在相同的关系。这项研究旨在通过比较澳大利亚绿岛两个地点的藻类丰度，确定自然条件下热带多物种海草草甸中的无脊椎动物群落是否调节了附生植物的丰度。在每个站点，建立成对的样地，通过杀虫剂的操作对无脊椎动物集合进行扰动，并与未处理的样地进行比较。经过六周的系统内无脊椎动物实验，附生植物丰度提高了89％。使用广义线性混合效应模型和路径分析，我们发现无脊椎动物的丰度与海藻叶片上的附生植物负荷负相关。栖息地物种丰富度与无脊椎动物的丰度呈正相关。这些发现反映了温带系统的情况，表明该机制在纬度梯度上的作用类似。使用广义线性混合效应模型和路径分析，我们发现无脊椎动物的丰度与海藻叶片上的附生植物负荷负相关。栖息地物种丰富度与无脊椎动物的丰度呈正相关。这些发现反映了温带系统的情况，表明该机制在纬度梯度上的作用类似。使用广义线性混合效应模型和路径分析，我们发现无脊椎动物的丰度与海藻叶片上的附生植物负荷负相关。栖息地物种丰富度与无脊椎动物的丰度呈正相关。这些发现反映了温带系统的情况，表明该机制在纬度梯度上的作用类似。