Influence of disturbance and nutrient enrichment on early successional fouling communities in an oligotrophic marine system

• Autor(a) principal: Canning-Clode, João
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Kaufmann, Manfred, Molis, Markus, Wahl, Martin, Lenz, Mark
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/3710
• topic: Disturbance; Diversity; Fouling; Madeira Island (Portugal); Multiple stressors; Nutrient enrichment; Productivity; .; Faculdade de Ciências da Vida

Disturbance and productivity are often cited as the main factors determining temporal and spatial patterns in species distribution and the diversity of com munities. A field experiment was conducted to test the role of these factors in the structuring of early successional fouling communities in a nutrient limited system at the south coast of Madeira Island. Macro-benthic sessile communi ties, established on artificial settlement substrata, were manipulated and sur veyed over a 9-week period. We applied mechanical disturbances of four different frequencies crossed with three levels of inorganic nutrient enrichment. Fertilization enhanced community diversity by favouring the establishment and growth of macroalgae. Disturbance reduced diversity by eliminating species – but only at the highest nutrient level. This is explained by a multiple-stressor model; species most sensitive to nutrient deficiency (only present in the highest enrichment treatment) were simultaneously the most sensitive to disturbance.