Potential effect of enclosure size on field experiments with herbivorous intertidal gastropods

Examines a potential problem in the interpretation of enclosure experiments, i.e. the effects of different enclosure sizes on mortality and body weights of a rocky intertidal limpet fenced at natural densities. There was no mortality during the experiment but body weights of limpets were significantly different between fence sizes varying 4-fold. Interpretations of enclosure experiments generally, and comparisons of the magnitude of treatment effects in competition experiments specifically, may be equivocal if enclosure sizes are different.