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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Impacts Of The Spotted Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Guttatus) On The Long-Spined Sea Urchin (Diadema Antillarum) And Patch Reef Communities In The Florida Keys, Meredith D. Kintzing
Impacts Of The Spotted Spiny Lobster (Panulirus Guttatus) On The Long-Spined Sea Urchin (Diadema Antillarum) And Patch Reef Communities In The Florida Keys, Meredith D. Kintzing
Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations
Caribbean coral reefs have undergone a phase shift from a system dominated by corals to one where algae are pervasive. This shift was precipitated by the loss of herbivores, including the mass mortality of the long spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum), coupled with disease and the recruitment failure of hermatypic corals. Diadema populations have recovered in some areas of the Caribbean, but are still below historical levels in the Florida Keys, likely due to low larval supply coupled with predation on juveniles. Lobsters are sea urchin predators in other systems and the spotted spiny lobster (Panulirus guttatus …
The Implications Of The Target-Area Hypothesis On The Population Dynamics Of The Spotted Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Guttatus, Denice N. Robertson
The Implications Of The Target-Area Hypothesis On The Population Dynamics Of The Spotted Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Guttatus, Denice N. Robertson
Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations
The target-area hypothesis, based on the theory of island biogeography, predicts that larger islands are more effective at intercepting passive immigrants. Most marine invertebrates have meroplanktonic larvae and open population dynamics, so immigration to populations in isolated benthic habitats is primarily by pelagic larval recruits. Thus, recruitment to isolated habitat “islands” may be more continuous and predictable on large islands than on small ones. Consequently, populations on large islands should not only be larger than those on small islands, but should also have more evenly distributed size structures. These differences in size structure among populations in isolated habitats of differing …