Spatial and seasonal patterns of habitat partitioning in a guild of southern California tidepool fishes

Abstract

Five species of fish, Clinocottus analis, Girella nigdcans, Hypsoblennius gilberti, Gobiesox rl~essodon, and Gibbonsia elegans, conlmonly occur in southern California's rocky intertidal zone. To examine the extent to which tidepool habitat is segregated by the 5 fishes, habitat partitioning patterns among and within the species were determined at 2 sites in San Diego. Fish density, species composition, and fish size were measured in 105 tidepools every 3 mo from November 1996 to August 1997. Hypotheses were tested pertaining to the segregation of habitat among different species and different size classes within species relative to the tidepool characteristlcs of intertidal height, surface area, depth, rugosity, and percent algal cover. A manipulative field experiment was conducted to further investigate these results. Tidepools were partitioned among and within fish species. Tidepool characteristics most important in partitioning were intertidal height, depth, and rugosity, with the order of importance of these characteristics different for each species. Habitat part~t~oning between size classes within species, although not as great as partitioning among species, was also based largely on tidepool intertidal height and rugosity. Although fish abundance changed seasonally, species' distribution patterns, with the exception of C. analis, were seasonally stable. The seasonal change in C. analis distribution was due to the arrival of new recruits rather than a seasonal change in adult habitat. The use of different types of tidepools by different species and by different size classes within species serves to limit contact among these groups, and therefore both direct and indirect competition, during low tide.

Comparative analysis of tidepool fish species composition on tropical coastal rocky reefs at State of Ceará, Brazil

“…The flooding of tidepools during high tides, which provides the access to fish to this ecosystem, is dependent upon factors such as tidal amplitude, local reef topography and distance from shore line (METAXAS & SCHEIBLING, 1993;MAHON & MAHON, 1994;DAVIS, 2000). Our results showed that higher diversity and abundance was attained at Pecém, where pools were shallower and closer to shore.…”

“…and Engraulidae) for community composition was stronger for Iparana pools, which are located near the mouth of the Ceará River estuary, whereas tropical reef species, such as Stegastes fuscus (Cuvier, 1830), Serranus flaviventris, Chaetodon ocellatus, C. striatus, Myrichthys ocellatus, were found exclusively at Pecém. The environmental gradient provided by freshwater discharge, and subsequent changes in seawater chemistry and turbidity, could not only directly influence the environmental conditions at the pool areas, but also have a localized effect over the species source-pool, from which the tidepool community would draw its components (FUJI, 1988;METAXAS & SCHEIBLING, 1993;DAVIS, 2000).…”

Checklist of tidepool fishes from Jericoacoara National Park, southwestern Atlantic, with additional ecological information

“…Only with high temporal resolution sampling designs (e.g., monthly samples), could be achieved the record of opportunistic and transient fishes. (Gibson 1972, Barton 1982, Davis 2000, Castellanos-Galindo et al 2005, Cox et al 2010) and exposure to waves (Gibson 1972, Grossman 1982. For example, the tidepools in Cabo Branco (see Rosa et al 1997) are about 80-266 times voluminous than the sampled pools in Jericoacoara.…”

Trophic relationships in an intertidal rockpool fish assemblage in the gulf of Cádiz (NE Atlantic)

“…The calculation of trophic overlap provides information on the degree of dietary competition among the species (Colwell and Futuyma, 1971;Mayr and Berger, 1992). Resource partitioning in fish assemblages can be manifested in several ways, including the segregation of prey based on type or size and the partitioning of habitat, both temporally and spatially (Davis, 2000).…”