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Differential recolonization of Atlantic intertidal habitats after disturbance reveals potential bottom-up community regulation.

ABSTRACT: In the spring of 2014, abundant sea ice that drifted out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence caused extensive disturbance in rocky intertidal habitats on the northern Atlantic coast of mainland Nova Scotia, Canada. To monitor recovery of intertidal communities, we surveyed two wave-exposed locations in the early summer of 2014. Barnacle recruitment and the abundance of predatory dogwhelks were low at one location (Tor Bay Provincial Park) but more than 20 times higher at the other location (Whitehead). Satellite data indicated that the abundance of coastal phytoplankton (the main food source for barnacle larvae) was consistently higher at Whitehead just before the barnacle recruitment season, when barnacle larvae were in the water column. These observations suggest bottom-up forcing of intertidal communities. The underlying mechanisms and their intensity along the NW Atlantic coast could be investigated through studies done at local and regional scales.

SUBMITTER: Petzold W

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4505780 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Differential recolonization of Atlantic intertidal habitats after disturbance reveals potential bottom-up community regulation.

Petzold Willy W Scrosati Ricardo A RA

F1000Research 20141020

In the spring of 2014, abundant sea ice that drifted out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence caused extensive disturbance in rocky intertidal habitats on the northern Atlantic coast of mainland Nova Scotia, Canada. To monitor recovery of intertidal communities, we surveyed two wave-exposed locations in the early summer of 2014. Barnacle recruitment and the abundance of predatory dogwhelks were low at one location (Tor Bay Provincial Park) but more than 20 times higher at the other location (Whitehead). ...[more]

PMID: 26213609

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Dataset Information

Differential recolonization of Atlantic intertidal habitats after disturbance reveals potential bottom-up community regulation.

Publications

Differential recolonization of Atlantic intertidal habitats after disturbance reveals potential bottom-up community regulation.

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