Species richness and diversity in different functional groups across environmental stress gradients: a model for marine rocky shores

Scrosati, Ricardo A.; Genne, Barbara van; Heaven, Christine; Watt, Cortney A.

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0587.2010.06119.x

Cited by 46 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 66 publications

(105 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Much research has been devoted to explaining intertidal zonation patterns based on the physiological responses of seaweeds to physical stress (Schonbeck and Norton 1978, Dring and Brown 1982, Skene 2004. A complementary body of research has addressed how intertidal communities of sessile organisms, including seaweeds, vary across other intertidal gradients such as wave action (Coleman et al 2006, Viejo 2009, Scrosati et al 2011. Tidal height is a good proxy for physical stress, but other factors, including herbivory, co-vary across tidal height and can confound interpretation of biodiversity patterns, thus necessitating direct manipulations of stress and other factors to determine their effects (for seaweeds, Kaehler and Williams 1998, Allison 2004, Thompson et al 2004, Morelissen and Harley 2007, Bertocci et al 2010.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Additive effects of physical stress and herbivores on intertidal seaweed biodiversity

Williams

Jones

2013

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Patterns in rocky intertidal seaweed biodiversity influence the resilience and functioning of these important primary producer communities. In turn, seaweed biodiversity patterns are the result of many ecological factors. We determined the influences of thermal and desiccation stress, herbivory, and nutrients on seaweed biodiversity on a northern California rocky shoreline. In a fully crossed design at two tidal heights at wave-protected and exposed sites, we deployed screens to reduce stress, removed herbivores, and added nutrients for 18 months. The treatments reduced temperature, increased relative humidity, decreased herbivore abundances, and increased nitrogen in both seawater and seaweeds. Seaweed abundance and biodiversity (cover, biomass, species richness, diversity, evenness, and community composition) were influenced by tidal height, physical stress, and herbivores. Wave exposure affected all response variables except biomass and evenness. Stress and herbivores had independent additive effects on seaweed abundance and diversity. Physical stress did not make the community as a whole more susceptible to herbivores, and screens had overarching positive effects on seaweed biodiversity even though they also had positive effects on herbivore abundance. Nutrients had virtually no effect on seaweed biodiversity, and we observed no bottom-up effects of nutrient addition on herbivore density or biomass. Small green algae and diatoms were important contributors to overall algal cover and to changes in composition across treatments, but larger macroalgae dominated the species richness response. The striking absence of interactions between stress and herbivory highlights how seaweed communities can respond independently to important drivers of biodiversity. Thus, nonadditive, potentially synergistic effects do not necessarily complicate the understanding of how seaweed biodiversity responds to environmental change.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Additive effects of physical stress and herbivores on intertidal seaweed biodiversity

Williams

Jones

2013

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In marine systems, herbivores can determine the spatial and temporal distribution of algae in both intertidal and subtidal habitats, as they can also affect the succession of entire benthic communities [8]. Theoretical models predict that the effects of herbivory and other interactions heavily depend on prevailing environmental stress levels, and it is expected that consumer activity of predators and herbivores should decrease when they are subjected to high environmental stress [7,13]. In intertidal systems, which are generally characterised by prevailing harsh conditions for marine organisms due to exposure to atmospheric conditions, habitat heterogeneity in terms of crevices and tide pools provides ameliorated environmental conditions and shelter for a suite of organisms [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Independent effects of grazing and tide pool habitats on the early colonisation of an intertidal community on western Antarctic Peninsula

Segovia-Rivera

Valdivia

2016

Rev. Chil. de Hist. Nat.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Prevailing environmental conditions can modulate the structuring role of biotic interactions. In intertidal habitats, less stressful environmental conditions and/or higher grazer densities may allow grazing effects to be stronger in tide pools than on emergent rocks. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a manipulative experiment on an intertidal rocky shore in Fildes Bay, King George Island, in which the effect of the dominant grazer Nacella polaris on the structure of benthic periphyton communities was compared between emergent rock and tide pool habitats. Also, we determined the spatial variation in density, weight, and maximum length of individuals of N. polaris in both habitats. Results: The density of N. polaris was significantly larger in tide pools than on emergent rocks. Contrarily, we observed no significant differences in morphological parameters of N. polaris between both habitats or between intertidal elevations. In the manipulative study, we observed a greater taxonomic richness, diversity, and abundance of periphyton on emergent rocks than in tide pools. These variables also showed, in comparison with control areas, significantly higher values in experimental areas where herbivores were excluded by means of stainless-steel fences. The effects of habitat and grazer exclusion treatments were independent of each other, as no statistically significant interaction between both factors was observed. Conclusions: Our results showed significant, but independent, effects of tide pool habitats and grazing on the early colonisation of these assemblages. Albeit the grazing effects of other herbivores such as amphipods and small gastropods cannot be ruled out, we suggest that traits of N. polaris, such as high mobility and circadian activity, allow this species to exert a firm control on the intertidal Antarctic assemblages across local environmental conditions.

show abstract

“…In addition, rocky shores usually show comparatively high levels of wave exposure (Raffaelli & Hawkins 1996), which can reduce recruitment by inducing mortality or emigration of recently settled colonisers (Porri et al 2008). Alongshore gradients of wave exposure have been shown to correlate with species abundances and diversity, in agreement with environmental stress models of community assembly (Menge & Sutherland 1987, Scrosati et al 2011. Furthermore, rocky intertidal shores in north-central Chile harbour diverse assemblages of mobile consumers that can reduce the abundance of early sessile colonists (Aguilera 2011).…”

Section: Context-dependent Dynamics Of Sessile Speciesmentioning

confidence: 58%

Succession in intertidal mussel bed assemblages on different shores: species mobility matters

Valdivia¹,

Buschbaum²,

Thiel³

2014

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biogenic substrata such as epibenthic mussel aggregations are common in coastal regions worldwide and harbour diverse assemblages of sessile and mobile species. However, colonisation patterns on biogenic substrata are still not well understood. We tested whether succession develops as a linear sequence of temporal changes in the species richness and community structure of sessile and mobile assemblages associated with intertidal mussel beds of sedimentary and rocky shores in Germany and Chile, respectively. Because of their broad differences, these study sites were analysed separately to examine whether similar successional patterns occur under differing environmental conditions and species pools. At each study site, we conducted an experiment that separates the effects of successional age (deployment duration) and the time when settlement substrata are deployed (deployment timing). Colonisation dynamics differed between timings and between sessile and mobile species. In addition, timing effects were stronger at the sedimentary than at the rocky study site. For sessile organisms, for example, species richness increased steadily with successional age at both study sites, but at the sedimentary site, the magnitude of this increase varied between the different months of deployment. For mobile organisms, a high proportion of the total species pool colonised the settlement substrata within the first month of deployment at both sites. After this initial colonization peak, mobile species richness showed a minor but significant increase with successional age at both sites. We suggest that species dispersal ability at the local scale (mobility) mediates the response of species-rich assemblages to natural and anthropogenic disturbances.

show abstract

Species richness and diversity in different functional groups across environmental stress gradients: a model for marine rocky shores

Cited by 46 publications

References 66 publications

Additive effects of physical stress and herbivores on intertidal seaweed biodiversity

Additive effects of physical stress and herbivores on intertidal seaweed biodiversity

Independent effects of grazing and tide pool habitats on the early colonisation of an intertidal community on western Antarctic Peninsula

Succession in intertidal mussel bed assemblages on different shores: species mobility matters

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About