Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T03:56:10.569Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A removal disturbance effect on the ecological succession of a benthic intertidal community—south-eastern Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

D.C. Barbiero
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, CEP 28013-602, Campos—RJ, Brazil
I.M. Macedo
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, CEP 28013-602, Campos—RJ, Brazil
B.P. Masi
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, CEP 28013-602, Campos—RJ, Brazil
I.R. Zalmon*
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, CEP 28013-602, Campos—RJ, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: I.R. Zalmon, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Av. Alberto Lamego, 2000, CEP 28013-602, Campos – RJ, Brazil email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The benthic succession was evaluated in the Inferior (0.6 to 1.4 m) and Superior (1.4 to 2.2 m) Eulittoral fringes of a rocky intertidal zone on the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro after an experimental disturbance of all benthic organisms in December 2007. Eight removal and control quadrats were marked along eight vertical profiles in each fringe and sampled bimonthly by a photo-quadrat method. In the Inferior Eulittoral fringe, in both treatments, Ulva fasciata and Perna perna were initially predominant and replaced by Phragmatopoma lapidosa in the sixth month. In this successional period, the species presence prior to the disturbance effect reinforced the similarity of >75% between treatments. In the Superior Eulittoral fringe, Chthamalus spp. predominated throughout all the months and bare space represented up to 30%. In the removal treatment the substrate remained 75% empty until the sixth month, mainly occupied by Collisella subrugosa. The control and removal quadrats showed a high dissimilarity in all succession periods and suggest the permanence of an early succession stage, while in the Inferior Eulittoral fringe, with less stressful environmental conditions, the local benthic community showed a stability tendency on a time scale less than six months. Such information is essential for the understanding of the community structure and the recovery time in relation to a given disturbance and should be applied routinely on areas with potential disturbance events such as the studied one, which has several oil platforms.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aguilera, M.A. and Navarrete, S.A. (2007) Effects of Chiton granosus (Frembly, 1827) and other molluscan grazers on algal succession in wave exposed mid-intertidal rocky shores of central Chile. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 349, 8498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbiero, D.C. (2009) Determinação de tamanho amostral e aplicação na sucessão ecológica da comunidade bentônica do entremarés rochoso na costa norte do Rio de Janeiro. MSc thesis. Universidade Estadual Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil.Google Scholar
Blanchard, D. and Bourget, E. (1999) Scales of coastal heterogeneity: influence on intertidal community structure. Marine Ecology Progress Series 179, 163173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breves-Ramos, A., Lavrado, H.P., Junqueira, A.O.R. and Silva, S.H.G. (2005) Succession in rocky intertidal benthic communities in areas with different pollution levels at Guanabara Bay (RJ-Brazil). Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology 48, 951965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, K.R. and Warwick, R.M. (2001) Change in marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation, 2nd edition. Plymouth, UK: PRIMER-E.Google Scholar
Connell, J.H. (1961) The influence of interspecific competition and other factors on the distribution of the barnacle Chthamalus stellatus. Ecology 42, 710723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, J.H. and Slatyer, R.O. (1977) Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. American Naturalist 111, 11191144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dye, A.H. (1993) Recolonization of intertidal macroalgae in relation to gap size and molluscan herbivory on a rocky shore on the east coast of southern Africa. Marine Ecology Progress Series 95, 263271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrell, T.M. (1991) Models and mechanisms of succession: an example from a rocky intertidal community. Ecological Monographs 61, 95113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forde, S.E. and Raimondi, P.T. (2004) An experimental test of the effects of variation in recruitment intensity on intertidal community composition. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 301, 114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurlbert, S.H. (1984) Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecological Monographs 54, 187211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kawai, T. and Tokeshi, M. (2004) Variable modes of facilitation in the upper intertidal: goose barnacles and mussels. Marine Ecology Progress Series 272, 203213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krohling, W. and Zalmon, I.R. (2008) Epibenthic colonization on an artificial reef in a stressed environment off the north coast of the Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology 51, 213221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lasiak, T.A. and Barnard, T.C.E. (1995) Recruitment of the brow mussel Perna perna onto natural substrata: a refutation of the primary/secondary settlement hypothesis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 120, 147153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, C. and Kitching, J.A. (1996) The biology of rocky shores. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
López, M.S. and Coutinho, R. (2008) Acoplamento plâncton-bentos: o papel do suprimento larval na estrutura das comunidades bentônicas de costões rochosos. Oecologia Brasiliensis 12, 575601.Google Scholar
Macedo, I.M., Masi, B.P. and Zalmon, I.R. (2006) Comparison of rocky intertidal community sampling methods at the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Oceanography 54, 147154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masi, B.P., Macedo, I.M. and Zalmon, I.R. (2009a) Benthic community zonation in a breakwater on the north coast of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology 52, 637646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masi, B.P., Macedo, I.M. and Zalmon, I.R. (2009b) Annual and spatial variation of intertidal benthic community zonation in a breakwater off the Rio de Janeiro coast, south-eastern Brazil. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 89, 225234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masi, B.P. and Zalmon, I.R. (2008) Zonação de comunidade bêntica do entremarés em molhes sob diferente hidrodinamismo na costa norte do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 25, 662673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McQuaid, C.D. and Lindsay, J.R. (2005) Interacting effects of wave exposure, tidal height and substratum on spatial variation in densities of mussel Perna perna plantigrades. Marine Ecology Progress Series 301, 173184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menge, B.A. (1976) Organization of the New England rocky intertidal community: role of predation, competition, and environmental heterogeneity. Ecological Monographs 46, 355393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyamoto, Y. and Noda, T. (2004) Effects of mussels on competitively inferior species: competitive exclusion to facilitation. Marine Ecology Progress Series 276, 293298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moysés, D.N. (2005) Influência da heterogeneidade do substrato no recrutamento de invertebrados bentônicos e sucessão ecológica do médiolitoral do costão rochoso da Ilha do Brandão, Angra dos Reis, RJ. MSc thesis. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Google Scholar
Murray, N.S., Ambrose, R.F. and Dethier, M.N. (2006) Monitoring rocky shores, 2nd edition. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Nandakumar, K. (1996) Importance of timing of panel exposure on the competitive outcome and succession of sessile organisms. Marine Ecology Progress Series 131, 191203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odum, E.P. (1969) The strategy of ecosystem development. Science 164, 262270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raffaelli, D. and Hawkins, S. (1999) Intertidal ecology, 2nd edition. London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Rocha, F.M. (2002) Recrutamento e sucessão de uma comunidade bentônica de mesolitoral dominada pela espécie invasora Isognomon bicolor (Bivalvia: Isognomidae) C.B. Adams, 1748 em dois costões rochosos submetidos a diferentes condições de batimento de ondas. MSc thesis. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, S.R., Ojedal, F.P. and Inestrosa, N.C. (1993) Settlement of benthic marine invertebrates. Marine Ecology Progress Series 97, s193207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, P.M. (2001) Larval supply, settlement and survival of barnacles in a temperate mangrove forest. Marine Ecology Progress Series 215, 237249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, L.F. and Coutinho, R. (2005) Effect of microhabitat distribution and substrate roughness on barnacle Tetraclita stalactifera (Lamarck, 1818) settlement. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology 48, 109113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sousa, W.P. (1979a) Experimental investigations of disturbance and ecological succession in a rocky intertidal algal community. Ecological Monographs 49, 227254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sousa, W.P. (1979b) Disturbance in marine intertidal boulder fields: the non-equilibrium maintenance of species diversity. Ecology 60, 12251239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sousa, W.P. (1984) Intertidal mosaics: patch size, propagule availability, and spatially variable patterns of succession. Ecology 65, 19181935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, J.P. and Karlson, R.H. (1977) Development and stability of the fouling community at Beaufort, North Carolina. Ecological Monographs 47, 425446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanaka, M.O. (2005) Recolonization of experimental gaps by the mussels Brachidontes darwinianus and B. solisianus in a subtropical rocky shore. Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology 48, 115119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanaka, M.O. and Magalhães, C.A. (2002) Edge effects and succession dynamics in Brachidontes mussel beds. Marine Ecology Progress Series 237, 151158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, A.J. and Chapman, M.G. (2000) Variation in abundances of intertidal populations: consequences of extremities of environment. Hydrobiologia 426, 2536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vance, R.R. (1988) Ecological succession and the climax community on a marine subtidal rock wall. Marine Ecology Progress Series 48, 125136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wahl, M. and Hoppe, K. (2002) Interactions between substratum rugosity, colonization density and periwinkle grazing efficiency. Marine Ecology Progress Series 225, 239249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zalmon, I.R., Gamma, B.A.P. and Leta, A.C. (1993) Fouling community organization at Guanabara Bay, Brazil: a directional process or a variable temporal progression? Oebalia 19, 217222.Google Scholar
Zalmon, I.R. and Gomes, F.A.C. (2003) Comunidade Incrustante em diferentes materiais de um recife artificial no litoral norte do estado do Rio de Janeiro. Biotemas 16, 5372.Google Scholar
Zamorano, J.H., Moreno, C.A. and Duarte, W.E. (1995) Post-settlement mortality in Phragmatopoma virgini (Polychaeta: Sabellariidae) at the Mehuin Marine Reserve, Chile. Marine Ecology Progress Series 127, 149155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zar, J.H. (1996) Biostatistical analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar