Sand Prawns Mitigate the Impact of Prolonged Drought on the Biology of a Temporary Open/Closed Estuary
2025
Celiwe Yekani | William Pierre Froneman
The role of the sand prawn, <i>Kraussillichirus kraussi</i> (Stebbing, 1900), as an ecosystem engineer was evaluated through a two-and-a-half-month caging experiment conducted during a prolonged drought in the lower reaches of the temporarily open/closed Kasouga Estuary along South Africa’s eastern seaboard. Findings indicate that at intermediate densities, the burrowing activities of <i>K. kraussi</i> significantly enhanced microphytobenthic algal concentrations, leading to an increase in macrobenthic abundance and biomass (H(3) = 12.772, <i>p</i> < 0.0001; H(3) = 11.305, <i>p</i> = 0.001; H(3) = 13.787, <i>p</i> < 0.0001, respectively). This response was largely driven by elevated densities of the gastropod <i>Nassarius kraussianus</i> (Dunker, 1847), which benefited from the increased microphytobenthic biomass. These results highlight the critical role of <i>K. kraussi</i> as an ecosystem engineer, demonstrating its ability to locally enhance biological productivity even under environmental stress, such as prolonged drought conditions.
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