Temporal variance of disturbance did not affect diversity and structure of a marine fouling community in north-eastern New Zealand |
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Authors: | Javier Atalah Saskia A Otto Marti J Anderson Mark J Costello Mark Lenz Martin Wahl |
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Institution: | 1.Leigh Marine Laboratory,The University of Auckland,Warkworth,New Zealand;2.Department of Biology,Humboldt University of Berlin,Berlin,Germany;3.Department of Statistics, Tamaki Campus,University of Auckland,Auckland,New Zealand;4.IFM-Geomar Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften an der Universit?t Kiel,Kiel,Germany;5.School of Biology and Environmental Science, Science Centre West,University College Dublin,Dublin 4,Ireland |
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Abstract: | Natural heterogeneity in ecological parameters, like population abundance, is more widely recognized and investigated than
variability in the processes that control these parameters. Experimental ecologists have focused mainly on the mean intensity
of predictor variables and have largely ignored the potential to manipulate variances in processes, which can be considered
explicitly in experimental designs to explore variation in causal mechanisms. In the present study, the effect of the temporal
variance of disturbance on the diversity of marine assemblages was tested in a field experiment replicated at two sites on
the northeast coast of New Zealand. Fouling communities grown on artificial settlement substrata experienced disturbance regimes
that differed in their inherent levels of temporal variability and timing of disturbance events, while disturbance intensity
was identical across all levels. Additionally, undisturbed assemblages were used as controls. After 150 days of experimental
duration, the assemblages were then compared with regard to their species richness, abundance and structure. The disturbance
effectively reduced the average total cover of the assemblages, but no consistent effect of variability in the disturbance
regime on the assemblages was detected. The results of this study were corroborated by the outcomes from simultaneous replicate
experiments carried out in each of eight different biogeographical regions around the world. |
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