Disturbance mediates the effects of nutrients on developing assemblages of epibiota |
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| Authors: | NELSON VALDIVIA JARROD D. STEHBENS BJÖRN HERMELINK SEAN D. CONNELL MARKUS MOLIS MARTIN WAHL |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Section Seaweed Biology, Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Marine Station, Kurpromenade 201, D‐27498 Helgoland, Germany (E‐mail: nelson.valdivia@awi.de),;2. Southern Seas Ecology Laboratories, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia,;3. Deceased 24 August 2005;4. Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, and;5. Leibniz Institute of Marine Science, Kiel, Germany |
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| Abstract: | Local dynamics such as resource enhancement (e.g. nutrient supply) and stochastic events of destruction (disturbances that provide new space) are hypothesized to counteractively affect species diversity and composition. We tested the independent and interactive effects of nutrients and disturbance on the development of assemblages of epibiota attached to vertical surfaces in an oligotrophic system. Nutrient concentrations were manipulated at three levels (ambient, medium and high) while disturbance was manipulated by removing biomass at seven frequencies (0×, 2×, 3×, 4×, 5×, 7×, 12×). Nutrient and disturbance regimes had opposing effects on diversity such that species richness increased with resource enhancement (nutrients) and declined with disturbance. These results support the model that increased heterogeneity of distribution of limiting resources allows the coexistence of species with low and high resource requirements. |
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| Keywords: | bottom‐up disturbance diversity marine nutrient top‐down |
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