Summary
The responses of different successional stages of a temperate intertidal algal community to disturbance were investigated with a field experiment. The experiment was conducted in a low intertidal boulder field in southern California. In this habitat, the top surfaces of boulders are covered with algae. The composition of the assemblage on any particular boulder depends on the length of time since it was last overturned by wave action. When a boulder is overturned, the algae on what was formerly the top surface, are killed in whole or part by a combination of sea urchin grazing, anoxia, light levels below compensation intensity, and mechanical damage caused by crushing or abrasion. The length of time that a boulder remains overturned and the local abundance of sea urchins determines the intensity of the disturbance. When the boulder is righted, recolonization begins either by vegetative regrowth of survivors and/or by spores from outside.
Using a three-factorial design, this natural form of disturbance was experimentally mimicked and the responses of three different successional stages of the algal community monitored. Boulders in each successional category were overturned for periods of 17, 27 and 54 days in areas with and without sea urchins, then righted. Two aspects of community response to perturbation were evaluated. These were (1) the assemblage's ability to resist change and (2) its ability, if altered, to adjust to some semblance of its original state. The resistance of each assemblage and of its component species to change was measured by the percent decrease in algal cover and by the decline in percent similarity of the community to its original composition. The recovery rate of each assemblage and of the cover lost by each species during the first 35 days following a disturbance was measured by the rate of increase in percent similarity to the original composition and the percent reestablishment of lost cover.
The experimental evidence demonstrates that the successional stages of the producer level of an intertidal algal community differ significantly in their responses to disturbance. Early successional communities suffer more damage from a given level of perturbation but recover more quickly than either middle or late successional communities. Damage to any particular assemblage of algae, irrespective of successional age, is more extensive and recovery slower, the longer the boulder is overturned and/or sea urchins are present. Several thresholds in these responses were also identified.
Differences in community responses and non-linearities in these responses were attributable to the life history characteristics of the component species rather than emergent properties of the assemblage. These characteristics have evolved in response to a variety of recurrent natural disturbances. This interpretation is in agreement with recent critical reevaluations of the trends and mechanisms of successional change in natural communities.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atsatt, P.R., O'Dowd, P.J.: Plant defense guilds. Science 193, 24–29 (1976)
Bormann, F.H., Likens, G.E., Siccama, T.G., Pierce, R.S., Eaton, J.S.: The export of nutrients and recovery of stable conditions following deforestation at Hubbard Brook. Ecol. Monogr. 44, 255–277 (1974)
Clements, F.E.: Plant succession: An analysis of the development of vegetation. Carnegie Inst. Washington. Publ. 142 (1916)
Colinvaux, P.A.: Introduction to ecology. New York: Wiley 1973
Connell, J.H.: Community interactions on marine rocky intertidal shores. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 3, 169–192 (1972)
Connell, J.H., Slatyer, R.O.: Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organization. Am. Nat. 111, 1119–1144 (1977)
Dayton, P.K.: Experimental evaluation of ecological dominance in a rocky intertidal algal community. Ecol. Monogr. 45, 137–159 (1975)
Drury, W.B., Nisbet, I.C.T.: Succession J Arnold Arboretum 54, 331–368 (1973)
Egler, F.E.: Vegetation science concepts. I. Initial floristic composition—a factor in old-field vegetation development. Vegetatio 4, 412–417 (1954)
Frank, P.W.: Life histories and community stability. Ecology 49, 355–357 (1968)
Gleason, H.A.: The individualistic concept of the plant association. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 53, 7–26 (1926)
Harrison, G.W.: Stability under environmental stress: resistance, resilience, persistance, and variability. Am. Nat. 113, 659–669 (1979)
Holling, C.S.: Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 4, 1–23 (1973)
Horn, H.S.: The ecology of secondary succession. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 5, 25–37 (1974)
Horn, H.S.: Succession. In: Theoretical ecology (R.M. May, ed.), pp. 187–204. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders 1975
Keever, C.: Causes of succession in old fields of the Piedmont, North Carolina. Ecol. Monogr. 20, 229–250 (1950)
Lubchenco, J.: Plant species diversity in a marine intertidal community: importance of herbivore food prefernece and algal competitive abilities. Am. Nat. 112, 23–39 (1978)
Lubchenco, J.: Algal zonation in the New England rocky intertidal community: an experimental analysis. Submitted to Ecology (1979)
Lubchenco, J., Menge, B.A.: Community development and persistence in a low rocky intertidal zone. Ecol. Monogr. 59, 67–94 (1978)
Margalef, R.: Perspectives in ecological theory. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press 1968
Margalef, R.: Diversity and stability: a practical proposal and a model of interdependence. In: Diversity and stability in ecological systems, pp. 25–37. Brookhaven Symp. Biol. no. 22 (1969)
Marks, P.L.: The role of the pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica L.) in the maintenance of stability in northern hardwood ecosystems. Ecol. Monogr. 44, 73–88 (1974)
Nie, N.H., Hull, C.H., Jenkins, J.G., Steinbrenner, K., Bent, D.H.: Statistical package for the social sciences, 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill 1975
Odum, E.P.: The strategy of ecosystem development. Science 164, 262–270 (1975)
Orians, G.H.: Diversity, stability and maturity in natural ecosystems. In: Unifying concepts in ecology (W.H. van Dobben and R.H. Lowe-McConnell, eds.), pp. 139–150. The Hague (Netherlands): Junk 1974
Paine, R. T.: Controlled manipulations in the marine intertidal zone, and their contributions to ecological theory. In: The changing scenes in natural sciences, 1776–1976. Acad. Natural Sci. Special publ. 12, 245–270 (1977)
Paine, R. T., Vadas, R.L.: The effects of grazing by sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus spp., on benthic algal populations. Limnol. Oceanogr. 14, 710–719 (1969)
Salt, G.W.: A comment on the use of the term emergent properties. Am. Nat. 113, 145–148 (1979)
Sokal, R.R., Rohlf, F.J.: Biometry. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Co. 1969
Sousa, W.P.: Disturbance and ecological succession in marine intertidal boulder fields. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. California, Santa Barbara 1977
Sousa, W.P.: Experimental investigations of disturbance and ecological succession in a rocky intertidal algal community. Ecol. Monogr. (in press, 1979)
Sousa, W.P.: Disturbance in marine intertidal boulder fields: the non-equilibrium maintenance of species diversity. Ecology (in press, 1979a)
Whittaker, R.H.: Communities and ecosystems, 2nd edition. New York: MacMillan Publ. 1975
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sousa, W.P. The responses of a community to disturbance: The importance of successional age and species' life histories. Oecologia 45, 72–81 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346709
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346709