Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Development of a subtidal epibenthic community: factors affecting species composition and the mechanisms of succession

  • Original Papers
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Macroinvertebrate grazers and temporal variability were found to strongly influence species composition of communities that developed subtidally on plexiglas panels. On panels exposed to the naturally high densities of sea urchins and sea stars, only grazer-resistant algal crusts, a diatom/blue-green algal film and short-lived filamentous algae became abundant. On those panels protected from grazers, however, other algae and sessile invertebrates were also common. Both the effects of grazing and the abundance of individual taxa differed on panels immersed at different times of the year.

Resident species also affected subsequent recruitment. Some colonists were found more frequently on panels with established communities than on recently immersed plates. Others became more abundant on younger than on older panels. Considerable small-scale spatial variation in the abundance of species was also found among panels within treatments and appeared to persist throughout the 13 months of the study.

I suggest that since the interactions that determine which mechanisms are important in succession occur between individuals (generalized here to species), not between successional stages, factors such as those examined that can determine which species will interact, indirectly determine the mechnaisms that are important in the development of a community. Models that deal with interactions between successional stages may lack the detail neccessary to predict or explain changes in species composition in diverse communities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ayling AM (1981) The role of biological disturbance in temperate subtidal encrusting communities. Ecology 62:830–847

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd MJ (1972) Fouling community structure and development in Bodega Harbor, California. Ph D dissertation, University of California, Davis, California

    Google Scholar 

  • Bassas FA (1975) Plant species diversity in old-field successional ecosystems in southern Illinois. Ecology 56:485–488

    Google Scholar 

  • Breen PA, Mann KH (1976) Changing lobster abundance and the destruction of kelp beds by sea urchins. Mar Biol 34:137–142

    Google Scholar 

  • Breitburg DL (1982) Development of a subtidal epibenthic community: effects of grasing, temporal variability and prior residency. Thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, California

  • Breitburg DL (1984) Residual effects of grazing:inhibition of competitor recruitment by encrusting coralline algae. Ecology 65:1136–1143

    Google Scholar 

  • Buss LW, Jackson JBC (1979) Competitive networks: nontransitive competitive relationships in cryptic coral reef environments. Am Nat 113:223–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan AT, Andersen RJ, Le Blanc MJ, Harrison PJ (1980) Algal plating as a tool for investigating allelopathy among marine microalgae. Mar Biol 59:7–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Choat JH, Schiel DR (1982) Patterns of distribution and abundance of large brown algae and invertebrate herbivores in subtidal regions of northern New Zealand. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 60:129–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Clements FE (1916) Plant succession: An analysis of the development of vegetation. Carnegie Inst Wash Publ 242:1–512

    Google Scholar 

  • Coe WR, Allen WE (1937) Growth of sedentary organisms on experimental blocks and plates for 9 successive years at the pier of the Scripps Institution of Oecanography. Bull Scripps Inst Oecanogr Tech Ser 4:101–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH (1972) Community interactions on marine rocky intertidal shores. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 3:169–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH (1978) Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199:1302–1310

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH, Slatyer RO (1977) Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. Am Nat 111:1119–1144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day RW (1977) The ecology of settling organisms on the coral reef at Heron Island, Queensland, Ph D dissertation. University of Sydney, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Day RW, Osman RW (1981) Predation by Patiria miniata (Asteroidea) on bryozoans: prey diversity may depend on the mechanism of succession. Oecologia (Berlin) 51:300–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Dayton PK (1971) Competition, disturbance, and community organization: the provision and subsequent utilization of space in a rocky intertidal community. Ecol Monogr 41:351–389

    Google Scholar 

  • Dean TA (1981) Structural aspects of sessile invertebrates as organizing forces in an estuarine fouling community. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol: 53:163–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Dean TA, Hurd LE (1980) Development in an estuarine fouling community: the influence of early colonists on later arrivals. Oecologia (Berlin) 46:295–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Denley EJ, Underwood AJ (1979) Experiments on factors influencing settlement, survival and growth in two species of barnacles in New South Wales. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 36:269–294

    Google Scholar 

  • De Vinny JS, Volse LA (1978) Effect of sediments on the development of Macrocystis pyrifera gametophytes. Mar Biol 48:343–348

    Google Scholar 

  • Drury WH, Nisbet ICT (1973) Succession. J Arnold Arbor 54:331–368

    Google Scholar 

  • Duggins DO (1980) Kelp beds and sea otters: an experimental approach. Ecology 61:447–453

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebeling AW, Larson RJ, Alivison WS, Bray RN (1980) Annual viability of reef-fish assemblages in kelp forests of Santa Barbara, California. Fish Bull 78:361–377

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster MS (1975a) Algal succession in a Macrocystis pyrifera forest. Mar Biol 32:313–329

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster MS (1975b) Regulation of algal community development in a Macrocystis pyrifera forest. Mar Biol 32:331–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Gant RE, Clebsch EC (1975) The allelopathic influences of Sassafras albidum in old-field succession in Tennessee. Ecology 56:604–615

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleason HA (1926) The individualistic concept of the plant association. Bull Torrey Bot Club 53:7–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosberg (1981) Competitive ability influences habitat choice in marine invertebrates. Nature 290:700–702

    Google Scholar 

  • Haderlie EC (1974) Growth rates, depth preference and ecological succession of some sessile marine invertebrates in Monterey Harbor. Veliger 17 (supplement):1–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Irvine GV (1973) The effect of selective feeding by two species of sea urchins on the structuring of algal communities. M S thesis, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

  • Jackson JBC (1977) Competition on marine hard substrata: the adaptive significance of solitary and colonial strategies. Am Nat 111:743–767

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson JBC, Buss LW (1975) Allelopathy and spatial competition among coral reef invertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 72:5160–5163

    Google Scholar 

  • Kay AM, Keough MJ (1981) Occupation of patches in the epifaunal communities on pier pilings and the bivalve Pinna bicolor at Edithburgh, South Australia. Oecologia (Berlin) 48:123–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Keever C (1950) Causes of succession on old fields of the Piedmont, North Carolina. Ecol Monogr 20:229–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Keough MJ (1983) Patterns of recruitment of sessile invertebrates in two subtidal habitats. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 66:213–245

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence J (1975) On the relationship between marine plants and sea urchins. Mar Biol Ann Rev 13:213–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin SA (1976) Population dynamic models in heterogeneous environments. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 7:287–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Massaki T, Fujita D, Akioka H (1981) Observation on the spore germination of Laminaria japonica on Lithophyllum yessoense (Rhodophyta, Corallinaceae) in culture. Bull Fac Fish Hokkaido Univ 32:349–356

    Google Scholar 

  • Menge BA (1978) Predation intensity in a rocky intertidal community: effect of an algal canopy, wave action and desiccation on predator feeding rates. Oecologia (Berlin) 34:17–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Osman RW (1977) The establishment and development of a marine epifaunal community. Ecol Monogr 47:37–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Osman RW (1982) Artificial substrates as ecological islands. In: Cairns J (ed) Artificial Substrates, 71–114, Ann Arbor Science Publications, Massachusetts

    Google Scholar 

  • Padilla D (1981) Selective factors influencing the morphology of coralline algae. M S thesis, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

  • Paine RT (1974) Intertidal community structure: experimental studies on the relationship between a dominant competitor and its principal predator. Oecologia (Berlin) 15:93–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Paine RT, Vadas RL (1969) The effects of grazing by sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus spp on benthic algal populations. Limnol Oceanogr 14:710–719

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickett STA (1976) Succession: an evolutionary interpretation. Am Nat 110:107–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinder JE (1975) Effects of species removal on an old-field plant community. Ecology 56:747–751

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter JW (1974) Community structure of coral reefs on opposite sides of the Isthmus of Panama. Science 186:543–545

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn JF (1982) Competitive heirarchies in marine benthic communities. Oecologia (Berlin) 54:129–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Robles CD, Cubit J (1981) Influence of biotic factors in an upper intertidal community: Dipteran larvae grazing on algae. Ecology 62:1536–1547

    Google Scholar 

  • Russ GR (1980) Effects of predation by fishes, competition, and structural complexity of the substratum on the establishment of marine epifaunal community. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 42:55–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Sammarco PW, Levinton JS, Ogden JC (1974) Grazing and control of coral reef community structure by Diadema antillarium Philippi (Echinodermata: Echinoidea): a preliminary study. J Mar Res 32:47–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheer BT (1945) The development of marine fouling communities. Biol Bull 89:103–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1969) Biometry. WH Freeman and Co, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Sousa WP (1979) Experimental investigations of disturbance and ecological succession in a rocky intertidal algal community. Ecol Monogr 49:227–254

    Google Scholar 

  • Standing JD (1976) Fouling community structure: effects of the hydroid Obelia dichotoma, on larval recruitment. In: Mackie GO (ed) Coelenterate Ecology and Behavior, 155–164, Plenum press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland JP, Karlson RH (1977) Development and stability of the fouling community at Beaufort, North Carolina. Ecol Monogr 47:425–446

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner T (1983a) Facilitation as a successional mechanism in a rocky intertidal community, Am Nat 121:729–738

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner T (1983 b) Complexity of early and middle successional stages in a rocky intertidal surfgrass community. Oecologia (Berlin)

  • Vance RR (1979) Effects of grazing by the sea urchin, Centrostephanus coronatus, on prey community composition. Ecology 60:537–546

    Google Scholar 

  • Virnstein RW (1977) The importance of predation by crabs and fishes on benthic infauna in Chesapeake Bay. Ecology 58:1199–1217

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodin SA (1978) Refuges, disturbance, and community structure: a marine soft-bottom example. Ecology 59:274–284

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodin SA (1981) Disturbance and community structure in a shallow water sand flat. Ecology 62:1052–1066

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Denise L. Breitburg

    Present address: Benedict Estuarine Research Laboratory, The Academy of Natural Sciences, 20612, Benedict, MD, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Marine Science Institute, University of California, 93106, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Denise L. Breitburg

Authors
  1. Denise L. Breitburg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Breitburg, D.L. Development of a subtidal epibenthic community: factors affecting species composition and the mechanisms of succession. Oecologia 65, 173–184 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379215

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379215

Keywords

Search

Navigation