Summary
The algal flora was sampled in 15 intertidal rock pools, selected for habitat uniformity within a limited area. The distribution of species agreed closely with that expected at random, whether examined by the distribution of associations, by nesting, by chequerboarding or by incidence functions. The simplest explanation is that differences in specific composition between the pools are caused by chance.
References
Aleem AA (1950) Distribution and ecology of British marine littoral diatoms. J Ecol 38:75–106
Connor EF, Simberloff D (1979) The assembly of species communities: chance or competition? Ecology 60:1132–1140
Diamond JM (1975) Assembly of species communities. In: Cody ML, Diamond JM (eds) Ecology and Evolution of Communities. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, pp 342–444
Diamond JM, Gilpin ME (1982) Examination of the “null” model of Connor and Simberloff for species co-occurrence on islands. Oecologia 52:64–74
Fowler NL (1990) Disorderliness in plant communities: comparisons, causes, and consequences. In: Grace JB, Tilman D (eds) Perspectives on plant competition. Academic Press, London, pp 291–306
Gilpin ME, Diamond JM (1982) Factors contributing to nonrandomness in species co-occurrences on islands. Oecologia 52:75–84
Hubbell SP, Foster RB (1986) Biology, chance, and history and the structure of tropical rain forest tree communities. In: Diamond J, Case TJ (eds) Community Ecology. Harper & Row, New York, pp 314–329
Lippmaa T (1939) The unistratal concept of plant communities (the unions). Am Midl Nat 21:111–143
Morris S, Taylor AC (1983) Diurnal and seasonal variation in physico-chemical conditions within intertidal rock pools. Est Coast Shelf Sci 17:339–355
Palmgren A (1926) Chance as an element in plant geography. In: Duggar BM (ed) Proceedings of the International Congress of Plant Sciences, Ithaca, New York, Vol 1, pp 16–23
Sale PF (1977) Maintenance of high diversity in coral reef fish communities. Am Nat 111:337–359
Stone L, Roberts A (1990) The checkerboard score and species distributions. Oecologia 85:74–79
Wilson JB (1987) Methods for detecting non-randomness in species co-occurrences: a contribution. Oecologia 73:579–582
Wilson JB (1988) Community structure in the flora of islands in Lake Manapouri, New Zealand. J Ecol 76:1030–1042
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bastow Wilson, J., James, R.E., Newman, J.E. et al. Rock pool algae: species composition determined by chance?. Oecologia 91, 150–152 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317254
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317254