Abstract
Conspicuous zonational patterns have long attracted ecologists and physiologists to rocky shores and early studies stressed the role of strong environmental gradients as fundamental to the processes structuring communities.
Here, we review briefly some of the ways in which diversity patterns have been described and experimentally clarified in relation to environmental gradients. We limit the use of environmental gradients to gradual and continuous changes in abiotic variables. Given the important role that consumer pressure can play in diversity patterns, we also consider how changes in environmental conditions can influence biotic gradients by modulating the physiological performances of consumers. Through the analysis of recent case studies we draw attention to the knowledge gaps concerning spatial heterogeneity in rocky assemblages, to potential risks in interpreting patterns only in relation to obvious environmental gradients, and to approaches needed to deal with this issue in temperate rocky habitats.
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Terlizzi, A., Schiel, D.R. (2009). Patterns Along Environmental Gradients. In: Wahl, M. (eds) Marine Hard Bottom Communities. Ecological Studies, vol 206. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/b76710_7
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