Clear-cut wave height thresholds reveal dominance shifts in assemblage patterns on rocky shores

Local-scale nutrient regeneration facilitates seaweed growth on wave-exposed rocky shores in an upwelling system

This study shows that, even on exposed, wave-swept, rocky shores in a nutrient-replete upwelling ecosystem, mussels (Mytilus californianus) facilitate the growth of the seaweed Porphyra perforata by enhancing nutrient concentrations in the nearby water column. In field surveys on emergent substrate in the mid-intertidal zone, we found ten times greater abundance of P. perforata on mussels than ...

Adaptation to dislodgement risk on wave-swept rocky shores in the snail Littorina saxatilis

The periwinkle Littorina saxatilis has repeatedly evolved both a small, fragile and globose "wave ecotype" confined to wave-swept shores and a large, robust and elongated "crab ecotype" found in nearby crab-rich but less-exposed shores. This phenotypic divergence is assumed to reflect, in some part, local adaptation to wave exposure, but this hypothesis has received incomplete experimental test...

Predation by Crabs on Rocky Shores in North-east Atlantic

Depth-stratified community zonation patterns on Gulf of Alaska rocky shores

Zonation patterns along elevation and depth gradients are common in rocky intertidal and subtidal ecosystems (Underwood 1985; Foster & Schiel 1985; Hawkins et al. 1992; Bertness et al. 2006; and many others) and universal patterns in taxon composition, richness and abundance have been suggested (e.g. Stephenson & Stephenson

Effects of eutrophication, grazing, and algal blooms on rocky shores

Eutrophication can profoundly change rocky shore communities. These changes often cause the replacement of perennial, canopy-forming algae such as Fucus spp. with annual, bloom-forming algae such as Enteromorpha spp. Grazing, however, can counteract eutrophication by eliminating the annual algae’s susceptible recruits. We examine these generalizations across large scales. We use replicated ‘‘bi...