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Recruitment Failure And Shifts In Community Structure Following Mass Mortality Limit Recovery Prospects Of Black Abalone, C. Melissa Miner, Jessica M. Altstatt, Peter T. Raimondi, Todd E. Minchinton

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Mass mortalities of species can fundamentally alter the structure of natural communities, which can in turn negatively impact species’ recovery. Beginning in 1994, some of the largest remaining populations of black abaloneHaliotis cracherodii on the mainland coast of California, experienced mass mortalities due to the fatal disease called ‘withering syndrome’, which led to its listing as a species of concern by the USA National Marine Fisheries Service. We have been monitoring black abalone populations along the coast of southern and central California since 1992, and detection of withering syndrome at our southernmost site prompted us to investigate how the …