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Distance decay of community dynamics in rocky intertidal sessile assemblages evaluated by transition matrix models

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Population Ecology

Abstract

It is well known that the similarity in species composition between two communities decays with the geographic distance that separates them. It is thus likely that the similarity in the dynamics of two communities also decays with distance, because the distance–decay relationship is fundamental in nature. However, the distance–decay relationships of community dynamics have not yet been revealed. We used transition matrix models to evaluate distance–decay relationships of seasonal community dynamics (from spring to summer) in rocky intertidal sessile assemblages along the Pacific coast of Japan between 31°N and 43°N. We evaluated the distance–decay relationships of whole-community dynamics and of three dynamics-related components—recruitment, disturbance, and species interaction (competition and facilitation)—for communities separated by distances ranging from several meters to thousands of kilometers. The similarity of the recruitment dynamics among communities declined rapidly with distance within the fine spatial scale, but only moderately within larger scales. The similarity of the disturbance dynamics was independent of distance, and the similarity of species interaction declined slightly with increasing distance. The similarity of whole-community dynamics declined rapidly with distance at a fine spatial scale and moderately at larger scales. The fact that the distance–decay relationship of whole-community dynamics was similar to that of recruitment may suggest that recruitment processes are the most important determinant of spatial variability of community dynamics at our study sites during the study period.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the generous support and encouragement of local fishermen and fishery officers of the Fisherman’s Cooperative Associations in Hokkaido, Iwate, Chiba, Wakayama, and Kagoshima Prefectures. We are grateful to the staff and students at Akkeshi Marine Station of Hokkaido University, International Coastal Research Center of Ocean Research Institute (The University of Tokyo), Marine Biosystems Research Center of Chiba University, Seto Marine Biological Laboratory of Kyoto University, and Education and Research Center for Marine Environment and Resources of Kagoshima University for field and laboratory facilities. We thank A. Aizawa and T. Hagino for useful discussion and comments, which helped to improve this paper, Dr. D. Munroe for critically reading and checking the English text, and two anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions that improved a previous version of the manuscript. This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (nos. 14340242 and 20570012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, N10W5, Kita, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0810, Japan

    Masahiro Tsujino & Takashi Noda

  2. National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea, Fisheries Research Agency, Maruishi 2-17-5, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima, 739-0452, Japan

    Masakazu Hori

  3. Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research Agency, Same-machi, Hachinohe, Aomori, 031-0841, Japan

    Takehiro Okuda

  4. Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, N11W10, Kita, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0811, Japan

    Masahiro Nakaoka

  5. Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Kagoshima University, Simoarata 4-50-20, Kagoshima, Kagoshima, 890-0056, Japan

    Tomoko Yamamoto

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  1. Masahiro Tsujino
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Correspondence to Masahiro Tsujino.

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Tsujino, M., Hori, M., Okuda, T. et al. Distance decay of community dynamics in rocky intertidal sessile assemblages evaluated by transition matrix models. Popul Ecol 52, 171–180 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-009-0150-8

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