Coastal oceanography sets the pace of rocky intertidal community dynamics
AUTOR(ES)
Menge, B. A.
FONTE
National Academy of Sciences
RESUMO
The structure of ecological communities reflects a tension among forces that alter populations. Marine ecologists previously emphasized control by locally operating forces (predation, competition, and disturbance), but newer studies suggest that inputs from large-scale oceanographically modulated subsidies (nutrients, particulates, and propagules) can strongly influence community structure and dynamics. On New Zealand rocky shores, the magnitude of such subsidies differs profoundly between contrasting oceanographic regimes. Community structure, and particularly the pace of community dynamics, differ dramatically between intermittent upwelling regimes compared with relatively persistent down-welling regimes. We suggest that subsidy rates are a key determinant of the intensity of species interactions, and thus of structure in marine systems, and perhaps also nonmarine communities.
ACESSO AO ARTIGO
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=218741Documentos Relacionados
- The role of Asterina stellifera (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) as a predator in a rocky intertidal community in southern Brazil
- Effects of productivity, consumers, competitors, and El Niño events on food chain patterns in a rocky intertidal community
- Diversity and Dynamics of a North Atlantic Coastal Vibrio Community
- Invasion of a rocky intertidal shore by the tunicate Pyura praeputialis in the Bay of Antofagasta, Chile
- Benthic–pelagic links and rocky intertidal communities: Bottom-up effects on top-down control?