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A removal disturbance effect on the ecological succession of a benthic intertidal community—south-eastern Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

D.C. Barbiero ,
I.M. Macedo ,
B.P. Masi  and
I.R. Zalmon
D.C. Barbiero
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, CEP 28013-602, Campos—RJ, Brazil
I.M. Macedo
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, CEP 28013-602, Campos—RJ, Brazil
B.P. Masi
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, CEP 28013-602, Campos—RJ, Brazil
I.R. Zalmon*
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, CEP 28013-602, Campos—RJ, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: I.R. Zalmon, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Av. Alberto Lamego, 2000, CEP 28013-602, Campos – RJ, Brazil email: ilana@uenf.br
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Abstract

The benthic succession was evaluated in the Inferior (0.6 to 1.4 m) and Superior (1.4 to 2.2 m) Eulittoral fringes of a rocky intertidal zone on the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro after an experimental disturbance of all benthic organisms in December 2007. Eight removal and control quadrats were marked along eight vertical profiles in each fringe and sampled bimonthly by a photo-quadrat method. In the Inferior Eulittoral fringe, in both treatments, Ulva fasciata and Perna perna were initially predominant and replaced by Phragmatopoma lapidosa in the sixth month. In this successional period, the species presence prior to the disturbance effect reinforced the similarity of >75% between treatments. In the Superior Eulittoral fringe, Chthamalus spp. predominated throughout all the months and bare space represented up to 30%. In the removal treatment the substrate remained 75% empty until the sixth month, mainly occupied by Collisella subrugosa. The control and removal quadrats showed a high dissimilarity in all succession periods and suggest the permanence of an early succession stage, while in the Inferior Eulittoral fringe, with less stressful environmental conditions, the local benthic community showed a stability tendency on a time scale less than six months. Such information is essential for the understanding of the community structure and the recovery time in relation to a given disturbance and should be applied routinely on areas with potential disturbance events such as the studied one, which has several oil platforms.

Keywords

benthic communityrocky shoredisturbancesuccessionintertidalRio de Janeiro
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 4 , December 2011 , e26
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011

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