Response of a harpacticoid copepod to a small-scale natural disturbance☆

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Abstract

Although several theories have been proposed to explain the manner in which natural disturbances participate in the organization of soft-bottom communities, they have seldom been tested. We examined the competitive-release hypothesis in a study of the response of the harpacticoid copepod Zausodes arenicolus Wilson to the disturbance created by the fecal mounds of the enteropneust Ptychodera bahamensis Spengel in a subtidal site in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Our approach involved field experiments, documenting the response of Zausodes to enteropneust fecal mounds and laboratory preference experiments designed to test the prediction that the reduction of competition in the disturbed patch caused the response. We found no evidence that competitive release caused Zausodes's response to the disturbance.

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    ☆

    Contribution 1042 from Florida State University Marine Laboratory.

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