Localised Effects of a Mega-Disturbance: Spatiotemporal Responses of Intertidal Sandy Shore Communities to the 2010 Chilean Earthquake.

ABSTRACT: Determining the effects of unpredictable disturbances on dynamic ecological systems is challenged by the paucity of appropriate temporal and spatial coverage of data. On 27 February 2010, an 8.8 Mw mega-earthquake and tsunami struck central Chile and caused coastal land-level changes, massive damage to coastal infrastructure, and widespread mortality of coastal organisms. Wave-exposed sandy beaches showed significant changes of species abundances from before to after the earthquake, but the highly dynamic biotic and abiotic conditions of these habitats make difficult to draw clear-cut conclusions from these patterns. Here, we analysed a beyond-BACI (Before-After Control-Impact) sampling design to test whether the effects of the Maule earthquake on sandy-shore species diversity, abundance,

SUBMITTER: Sepulveda RD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4934883 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature