Digital Commons Network^™

Gradients In The Number Of Species At Reef-Seagrass Ecotones Explained By Gradients In Abundance, Fernando Tuya, Mathew Vanderklift, Thomas Wernberg, Mads Thomsen

Research outputs 2011

Gradients in the composition and diversity (e. g. number of species) of faunal assemblages are common at ecotones between juxtaposed habitats. Patterns in the number of species, however, can be confounded by patterns in abundance of individuals, because more species tend to be found wherever there are more individuals. We tested whether proximity to reefs influenced patterns in the composition and diversity ('species density' = number of species per area and 'species richness' = number of species per number of individuals) of prosobranch gastropods in meadows of two seagrasses with different physiognomy: Posidonia and Amphibolis. A change in the species …