Impacts of anthropogenic stress on rocky intertidal communities

Rocky shores provide a harsh environment for marine organisms and we briefly discuss natural sources of variation in community structure before considering anthropogenic impacts in detail. We review impacts caused by (a) acute disturbances: oil spills, toxic algal blooms and (b) chronic disturbances: nutrient pollution, oil, heavy metals, pesticides, antifouling paints, collecting, trampling/habitat degradation, siltation and introduced species. Community level effects are emphasised throughout and illustrative examples are drawn from field-based case studies. Particular attention is given to the lessons learned from oil spills and the effect of chronic pollution by tributyltin on dogwhelks, the impacts of which ranged from the biochemical to community levels of organisation. Impacts are placed in a global and historical perspective and the potential for the recovery of shores under appropriate management is discussed. Finally we consider the relative merits of the multivariate and univariate approaches to studying impacted communities and suggest priorities for future research.