In rocky intertidal habitats, the pronounced increase in environmental stress from low to high elevations greatly affects community structure, that is, the combined measure of species identity and their relative abundance. Recent studies have shown that ecological variation also occurs along the coastline at a variety of spatial scales. Little is known, however, on how vertical variation compar...

Since the early 1990s, sinkholes and wide, shallow subsidence features (WSSFs) have become major problems along the Dead Sea shores in Israel and Jordan. Sinkholes are readily observed in the field, but their locations and timing are unpredictable. WSSFs are often difficult to observe in the field. However, once identified, they delineate zones of instability and increasing hazard. In this stud...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly used as a management tool to preserve species and habitats. Testing hypotheses about the effectiveness of MPAs is important for their implementation and to identify informative criteria to support management decisions. This study tested the general proposition that MPAs affected assemblages of algae and invertebrates between 0.0 and 0.5 m above the...

We measured the variability in hydrodynamic forces among locations separated by only centimeters along three horizontal transects on a steep rocky shore. Our results extend previous work showing that wave forces have the characteristics of 1/f-noise, in which variability in wave forces decreases exponentially with decreasing scales of measurement. Furthermore, our results suggest that protectio...

Wave formation and propagation due to submarine landslides are complex phenomena that may be divided into four parts: Landslide dynamics, energy transfer from landslide motion to water motion, wave propagation in open water, and wave run-up along the shores. This paper focuses on the energy transfer from landslide motion to water motion, i.e. the generation of tsunamis by submarine landslides.

Abstract The intertidal invertebrate community on rocky shores in northern Chile is characterised by a high species richness resulting from the productivity of this ecosystem. present study aims to do first characterisation communities Antofagasta town and surroundings (23°S), using co-occurrence niche-sharing null models, analysis similarities (ANOSIM) nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS)...

Patellid limpets are dominant grazers on intertidal rocky shores of NW Europe with a key role in structuring the eulittoral community. Localised loss of limpets and the subsequent reduction in grazing pressure is known to result in important changes in community structure, through the development of canopy-forming macroalgae, and an associated increase in species diversity and community complex...

The distribution of intertidal organisms can often be determined by processes operating at the time of recruitment. Recruitment has been demonstrated to influence the composition of assemblages of natural habitats, but there is less evidence of its importance in artificial habitats. Coastal areas are becoming increasingly urbanised, with the replacement of many natural habitats by man-made stru...

We report here on a laboratory-scale experiment which reproduces a rich variety of natural patterns with few control parameters. In particular, we focus on intriguing rhomboid structures often found on sandy shores and flats. We show that the standard views based on water surface waves do not explain the phenomenon, and we evidence a different mechanism based on mud avalanche instability.

The lithodid crab Paralomis spinosissima is previously known only in Sub-Antarctic waters from South Georgia Island to the Drake Passage. Here we recorded a juvenile male obtained off shores of Mar del Plata (~37°S), Argentina. This new occurrence extends the distribution range of the species over 1300 km northwards in the Atlantic Ocean.