Premium
Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in a sand bottom epifaunal community of invertebrates in shallow water 1
Author(s) -
Davis Noël,
VanBlaricom Glenn R.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1978.23.3.0417
Subject(s) - invertebrate , abundance (ecology) , waves and shallow water , habitat , ecology , spatial heterogeneity , temporal scales , environmental science , spatial ecology , community structure , oceanography , geology , biology
Temporal and spatial patterns of abundance in a community of epifaunal invertebrates on the shallow subtidal sand plain at La Jolla, California, were studied from March 1974 through September 1975. In similar work by Fager in the same location from 1957 to 1963, densities of the principal species were remarkably nonvariant, both in time and space. The more recent work showed both long and short term fluctuations in the abundances of many of these species as well as physical and biological spatial heterogeneity. These differences from Fager’s results as well as evidence of temporal fluctuations in populations of abundant species on portions of the sand habitat adjoining the primary study areas suggest that the shallow sand community lacks long term numerical stability.