Open AccessIncreasing instability of a rocky intertidal meta-ecosystem
Author(s) -
Bruce A. Menge,
Sarah A. Gravem,
Angela Johnson,
Jonathan Robinson,
Brittany N. Poirson
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2114257119
Subject(s) - intertidal zone , disturbance (geology) , ecosystem , ecology , upwelling , climate change , intertidal ecology , biosphere , rocky shore , biology , psychological resilience , environmental science , habitat , psychology , psychotherapist , paleontology
Significance As climate change increasingly stresses Earth’s biosphere, assessment of biotic responses is critical to human welfare. Although species-level changes have been researched for decades, studies focused at the multispecies level are infrequent, and those testing dynamical responses (species interactions, recovery from disturbance) even rarer. In the well-studied, iconic rocky intertidal ecosystem, annually repeated disturbance experiments in 2012–2019 revealed that the resilience of communities weakened (recovery rates slowed) and variability in recovery rates increased. These changes were associated with increased thermal stresses and shifts in upwelling currents, which can alter growth, decrease colonization rates, and kill organisms.