Editing Bryozoa (section)

=== Interactions with non-human organisms ===
[[File:Membranipora membranacea.jpg|thumb|Lacelike ''[[Membranipora membranacea]]'']]
Marine species are common on [[coral reef]]s, but seldom a significant proportion of the total [[biomass]]. In temperate waters, the skeletons of dead colonies form a significant component of shell gravels, and live ones are abundant in these areas.<ref name="MargulisSchwartz1998FiveKingdomsBryozoa" /> The marine lace-like bryozoan ''[[Membranipora membranacea]]'' produces spines in response to predation by several species of [[nudibranch|sea slug]]s (nudibranchs).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Iyengar|first1=E.V.|year=2002|title=Specificity of cues inducing defensive spines in the bryozoan Membranipora membranacea|journal=Marine Ecology Progress Series|volume=225|pages=205–218|url=http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=13449426|access-date=2009-08-18|doi=10.3354/meps225205|last2=Harvell|first2=CD|bibcode=2002MEPS..225..205I|doi-access=free|archive-date=26 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126225336/http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=13449426|url-status=live}}</ref> Other predators on marine bryozoans include fish, [[sea urchin]]s, [[pycnogonid]]s, [[crustacean]]s, [[mite]]s<ref>{{cite book|last=Hayward|first=P. J.|author2=Ryland, J.S.|title=Cyclostome bryozoans: keys and notes for the identification of the species|page=27|chapter=Predators|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cAsVAAAAIAAJ&q=Bryozoa%20predator%20prey&pg=PA27|access-date=2009-08-18|isbn=978-90-04-07697-6|year=1985|publisher=Brill Archive|archive-date=8 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308183245/https://books.google.com/books?id=cAsVAAAAIAAJ&q=Bryozoa%20predator%20prey&pg=PA27|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[starfish]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Day|first1=R.W.|date=January 1981|title=Predation by ''Patiria miniata'' (Asteroidea) on bryozoans|journal=Oecologia|volume=51|issue=3|pages=300–309|doi=10.1007/BF00540898|pmid=28310012|last2=Osman|first2=R.W.|s2cid=19976956|bibcode=1981Oecol..51..300D}}</ref> In general marine [[echinoderms]] and [[molluscs]] eat masses of zooids by gouging pieces of colonies, breaking their mineralized "houses", while most [[arthropod]] predators on bryozoans eat individual zooids.<ref>{{cite book|last=McKinney|first=F.K.|author2=Taylor, P.D.|author3=Lidgard, S.|title=Predator-prey interactions in the fossil record|editor=Kelley, P.H.|editor2=Kowalewski, M.|editor3=Hansen, T.A.|publisher=Springer|year=2003|pages=239–246|chapter=Predation on Bryozoans and its Reflection in the Fossil Record|isbn=978-0-306-47489-7|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVlYBhq5hNYC&q=%22Predation%20on%20Bryozoans%20and%20its%20Reflection%20in%20the%20Fossil%20Record%22&pg=PA239|access-date=2009-08-18|archive-date=8 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308183233/https://books.google.com/books?id=bVlYBhq5hNYC&q=%22Predation%20on%20Bryozoans%20and%20its%20Reflection%20in%20the%20Fossil%20Record%22&pg=PA239|url-status=live}}</ref>

In freshwater, bryozoans are among the most important [[filter feeder]]s, along with [[sponge]]s and [[mussel]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wood|first=T.S.|date=October 2006|title=Freshwater Bryozoans of Thailand (Ectoprocta and Entoprocta)|journal=The Natural History Journal of Chulalongkorn University|volume=6|issue=2|pages=83–119|url=http://www.wright.edu/~tim.wood/documents/2006_ThaiBryos_000.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.wright.edu/~tim.wood/documents/2006_ThaiBryos_000.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|access-date=2009-08-24}}</ref> Freshwater bryozoans are attacked by many predators, including snails, insects, and fish.<ref name="CallaghanKarlson2002SummerDormancy">{{cite journal|last1=Callaghan|first1=T.P.|date=June 2002|title=Summer dormancy as a refuge from mortality in the freshwater bryozoan ''Plumatella emarginata''|journal=Oecologia|volume=132|issue=1|pages=51–59|doi=10.1007/s00442-002-0946-0|pmid=28547286|last2=R.|first2=Karlson|s2cid=19925846|bibcode=2002Oecol.132...51C}}</ref>

In [[Thailand]] the [[introduced species]] ''[[Pomacea canaliculata]]'' (golden apple snail), which is generally a destructive [[herbivore]], has wiped out phylactolaemate populations wherever it has appeared. ''P. canaliculata'' also preys on a common freshwater gymnolaemate, but with less devastating effect. Indigenous snails do not feed on bryozoans.<ref name="predation_golden">{{cite journal|last=Wood|first=T.S.|date=May 2006|title=Heavy Predation on Freshwater Bryozoans by the Golden Apple Snail, ''Pomacea canaliculata''|journal=Natural History Journal of Chulalongkorn University|volume=6|issue=1|pages=31–36|url=http://www2.biology.sc.chula.ac.th/web%20of%20NHJCU%20PDF/6-1,31-36.pdf|access-date=2009-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006013213/http://www2.biology.sc.chula.ac.th/web%20of%20NHJCU%20PDF/6-1,31-36.pdf|archive-date=6 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Several species of the [[hydroid (zoology)|hydroid]] family [[Zancleidae]] have symbiotic relationships with bryozoans, some of which are beneficial to the hydroids while others are [[parasite|parasitic]]. Modifications appear in the shapes of some these hydroids, for example smaller tentacles or encrustation of the roots by bryozoans.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Puce|first=S.|year=2007|title=Symbiotic relationships between hydroids and bryozoans|journal=International Symbiosis Society Congress Number 5|volume=44|issue=1–3|pages=137–143|url=http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18888422|access-date=2009-08-18|archive-date=26 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126215431/http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18888422|url-status=live}}</ref> The bryozoan ''[[Alcyonidium nodosum]]'' protects the [[whelk]] ''[[Burnupena papyracea]]'' against predation by the powerful and voracious [[rock lobster]] ''[[Jasus lalandii]]''. While whelk shells encrusted by the bryozoans are stronger than those without this reinforcement, chemical defenses produced by the bryozoans are probably the more significant deterrent.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gray|first1=C.A.|date=December 2005 |title=A symbiotic shell-encrusting bryozoan provides subtidal whelks with chemical defence against rock lobsters|journal=African Journal of Marine Science|volume=27|issue=3|pages=549–556| doi = 10.2989/18142320509504115|last2=McQuaid|first2=CD|last3=Davies-Coleman|first3=MT |bibcode=2005AfJMS..27..549G |s2cid=84531235}}</ref>

[[File:Bryolith (Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania).jpg|thumb|Mauritanian bryolith formed by circumrotatory growth of the bryozoan species ''[[Acanthodesia commensale]]'']]
In the [[Banc d'Arguin]] offshore [[Mauritania]] the species ''[[Acanthodesia commensale]]'', which is generally growing attached to gravel and hard-substrate, has formed a [[symbiosis|facultative symbiotic relationship]] with [[hermit crabs]] of the species ''Pseudopagurus cf. granulimanus'' resulting in egg-size structures known as bryoliths.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Klicpera|first1=André|last2=Taylor|first2=Paul D.|last3=Westphal|first3=Hildegard|s2cid=15841444|title=Bryoliths constructed by bryozoans in symbiotic associations with hermit crabs in a tropical heterozoan carbonate system, Golfe d'Arguin, Mauritania|journal=Marine Biodiversity|date=30 July 2013|volume=43|issue=4|pages=429–444|doi=10.1007/s12526-013-0173-4|bibcode=2013MarBd..43..429K |url=https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.836168|access-date=19 August 2019|archive-date=11 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111231258/https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.836168|url-status=live}}</ref> Nucleating on an empty gastropod shell, the bryozoan colonies form multilamellar skeletal crusts that produce spherical encrustations and extend the living chamber of the hermit crab through helicospiral tubular growth.

Some phylactolaemate species are intermediate hosts for a group of [[myxozoa]] that have also been found to cause [[proliferative kidney disease]], which is often fatal in [[salmonid]] fish,<ref name="AndersonCanningOkamura2004BryozoanHostsForPKX">{{cite journal|last1=Anderson|first1=C.|year=1999|title=Molecular data implicate bryozoans as hosts for PKX (Phylum Myxozoa) and identify a clade of bryozoan parasites within the Myxozoa|journal=Parasitology|volume=119|issue=6|pages=555–561|url=http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1203412|access-date=2009-08-18|doi=10.1017/S003118209900520X|pmid=10633916|last2=Canning|first2=E.U.|last3=Okamura|first3=B.|s2cid=2851575|archive-date=26 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126223846/http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1203412|url-status=live}}</ref> and has severely reduced wild fish populations in Europe and North America.<ref name="MassardGeimer2008FreshwaterBryoDiversity" />

''[[Membranipora membranacea]]'', whose colonies feed and grow exceptionally fast in a wide range of current speeds, was first noticed in the [[Gulf of Maine]] in 1987 and quickly became the most abundant organism living on [[kelp]]s.<ref name="Pratt2008WhereFlowRight" /> This [[invasive species|invasion]] reduced the kelp population by breaking their fronds,<ref name="RuppertFoxBarnesBryozoa" /> so that its place as the dominant "vegetation" in some areas was taken by another invader, the large [[alga]] ''[[Codium fragile]] tomentosoides''.<ref name="Pratt2008WhereFlowRight" /> These changes reduced the area of habitat available for local fish and invertebrates. ''M. membranacea'' has also invaded the northwest coast of the US.<ref name="RuppertFoxBarnesBryozoa" /> A few freshwater species have been also found thousands of kilometers from their native ranges. Some may have been transported naturally as statoblasts. Others more probably were spread by humans, for example on imported water plants or as stowaways on ships.<ref name="WoodOkamura1999Asajirella" />