Spatial variation in the macrobenthic assemblages of intertidal seagrass along the long axis of an estuary

Barnes, R. S. K.; Ellwood, M. D. Farnon

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2012.07.013

Cited by 39 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…For example, the presence of highly dominant species alone may result in deterministic patterns (Barnes and Ellwood, 2012b). The current study is no exception in that we challenge current knowledge of species coexistence among ants.…”

Section: Evidence For Competition From Analysing Co-occurrence Patternsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Competition can lead to unexpected patterns in tropical ant communities

et al. 2016

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a b s t r a c tEcological communities are structured by competitive, predatory, mutualistic and parasitic interactions combined with chance events. Separating deterministic from stochastic processes is possible, but finding statistical evidence for specific biological interactions is challenging. We attempt to solve this problem for ant communities nesting in epiphytic bird's nest ferns (Asplenium nidus) in Borneo's lowland rainforest. By recording the frequencies with which each and every single ant species occurred together, we were able to test statistically for patterns associated with interspecific competition. We found evidence for competition, but the resulting co-occurrence pattern was the opposite of what we expected. Rather than detecting species segregationdthe classical hallmark of competitiondwe found species aggregation. Moreover, our approach of testing individual pairwise interactions mostly revealed spatially positive rather than negative associations. Significant negative interactions were only detected among large ants, and among species of the subfamily Ponerinae. Remarkably, the results from this study, and from a corroborating analysis of ant communities known to be structured by competition, suggest that competition within the ants leads to species aggregation rather than segregation. We believe this unexpected result is linked with the displacement of species following asymmetric competition. We conclude that analysing cooccurrence frequencies across complete species assemblages, separately for each species, and for each unique pairwise combination of species, represents a subtle yet powerful way of detecting structure and compartmentalisation in ecological communities.

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Section: Evidence For Competition From Analysing Co-occurrence Patternsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Competition can lead to unexpected patterns in tropical ant communities

et al. 2016

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“…This result highlights the importance of the use of procedural controls. The limited impact of freshwater was surprising as many studies have found that freshwater, or the resulting reduced salinity, decreased diversity in marine assemblages (Joyce et al, 2005, Raberg and Kautsky, 2007, Barnes and Ellwood, 2012. Osmotic stress can occur in marine organisms when the salinity of the surrounding environment is reduced.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Separate and combined effects of copper and freshwater on the biodiversity and functioning of fouling assemblages

Kinsella

Crowe

2016

Marine Pollution Bulletin

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“…The reduction in species number and biomass along the salinity gradient in an estuary is well established (Day, 1981;Whitfield et al, 2012;Barnes, 2013) but interpretation of the decline in species is open to review ( Barnes & Ellwood, 2012;Barnes, 2013;Whitfield et al, 2012). The latter authors proposed a revised conceptual model of the original Remane diagram in which estuarine biodiversity (species) changes through a salinity continuum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The best available information is from Davies (1980) in his study of the mytilid species present in estuaries and brackish coastal lakes, and the note in Barnes and Ellwood (2012), who described active spat at a density of 8000 individuals m 2 on leaves of eelgrass Nanozostera capensis in the lagoon sector of the estuary. These observations suggest that the spat, after settling on leaves of eelgrass, makes use of tidal movement to transport the individuals to more permanent habitats such as rocky interstices.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The invertebrate macrobenthos of artificial rocky shores in the Knysna Estuary

Allanson

Smith

2014

Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa

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Macrobenthic invertebrate communities of artificial rocky shores are described in the Knysna Estuary, South Africa. Eleven vertical transects 0.25 m wide and 1.25-2 m long were sampled. Species richness varied from 10 to 16 species within 297-772 individuals per transect on the rocky shores of the embayment and 13 to 29 species within 1,136-13,153 individuals in the middle estuary. Comparison of communities was made using Shannon-Wiener and Gini-Simpson indices from which the number of 'effective' species was determined within each habitat, and in which the presence of the estuarine mussel, Arcuatula capensis, and its associated polychaet fauna increased biodiversity of the artificial rocky shore in the middle estuary. Indices, correctly determined, were helpful in assessing changes between comparable faunas in dissimilar sites. It is concluded that if civil engineering design took cognisance of the vertical and horizontal parameters controlling the distribution of macrobenthic fauna, particularly with respect to mean sea level, the environmental impact would be significantly reduced.

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Spatial variation in the macrobenthic assemblages of intertidal seagrass along the long axis of an estuary

Cited by 39 publications

References 51 publications

Competition can lead to unexpected patterns in tropical ant communities

Competition can lead to unexpected patterns in tropical ant communities

Separate and combined effects of copper and freshwater on the biodiversity and functioning of fouling assemblages

The invertebrate macrobenthos of artificial rocky shores in the Knysna Estuary

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