The multiple roles of β-diversity help untangle community assembly processes affecting recovery of temperate rocky shores.

ABSTRACT: Metacommunity theory highlights the potential of β-diversity as a useful link to empirical research, especially in diverse systems where species exhibit a range of stage-dependent dispersal characteristics. To investigate the importance of different components and scales of β-diversity in community assembly, we conducted a large-scale disturbance experiment and compared relative recovery across multiple sites and among plots within sites on the rocky shore. Six sites were spread along 80 km of coastline and, at each site, five plots were established, matching disturbed and undisturbed quadrats. Recovery was not complete at any of the sites after 1 year for either epibenthos (mostly composed of macroalgae and, locally, mussels) or infauna. Significant differences in recovery among sites wer

SUBMITTER: Chiantore M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6124088 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature