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Distance decay of community dynamics in rocky intertidal sessile assemblages evaluated by transition matrix models
Author(s) -
Tsujino Masahiro,
Hori Masakazu,
Okuda Takehiro,
Nakaoka Masahiro,
Yamamoto Tomoko,
Noda Takashi
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
population ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1438-390X
pISSN - 1438-3896
DOI - 10.1007/s10144-009-0150-8
Subject(s) - distance decay , intertidal zone , ecology , geographical distance , similarity (geometry) , competition (biology) , spatial ecology , distance matrices in phylogeny , community structure , biology , dynamics (music) , patch dynamics , interspecific competition , habitat , physics , demography , population , bioinformatics , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science , acoustics , image (mathematics)
It is well known that the similarity in species composition between two communities decays with the geographic distance that separates them. It is thus likely that the similarity in the dynamics of two communities also decays with distance, because the distance–decay relationship is fundamental in nature. However, the distance–decay relationships of community dynamics have not yet been revealed. We used transition matrix models to evaluate distance–decay relationships of seasonal community dynamics (from spring to summer) in rocky intertidal sessile assemblages along the Pacific coast of Japan between 31°N and 43°N. We evaluated the distance–decay relationships of whole‐community dynamics and of three dynamics‐related components—recruitment, disturbance, and species interaction (competition and facilitation)—for communities separated by distances ranging from several meters to thousands of kilometers. The similarity of the recruitment dynamics among communities declined rapidly with distance within the fine spatial scale, but only moderately within larger scales. The similarity of the disturbance dynamics was independent of distance, and the similarity of species interaction declined slightly with increasing distance. The similarity of whole‐community dynamics declined rapidly with distance at a fine spatial scale and moderately at larger scales. The fact that the distance–decay relationship of whole‐community dynamics was similar to that of recruitment may suggest that recruitment processes are the most important determinant of spatial variability of community dynamics at our study sites during the study period.