Abstract
Along a composite onshore-offshore gradient, 4 homogeneous areas within beds of the marine angiosperm Thalassia were studied in detail. Eleven environmental variables, and molluscan and echinoderm abundance were sampled at monthly intervals for 1 year. Environmental conditions were generally more extreme, and their variance greatest, nearshore; they decreased significantly with distance from shore. Environmental predictability and cumulative diversity (H) increased with distance from shore, whereas abundance was greatest in the higher-stress environments. Over the year, the population variance (number of species, density, and diversity) was no greater in the unpredictable, low diversity environments than in the more predictable, high-diversity environments. Bivalves collected from the low-diversity environments were markedly eurytopic forms. whereas the highest-diversity area contained predominantly stenotopic taxa. Typical suspension feeders were dominant only in the most diverse area, whereas more generalized feeders dominated the higher-stress environments. There was no correlation between bivalve diversity increased with the variety of available food. Evidence suggests that catastrophes and other long-term phenomena, and biological factors such as predation, are of great importance in determining the differences in fauna between these areas.
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Communicated by J. Bunt, Miami
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Jackson, J.B.C. The ecology of the molluscs of Thalassia communities, Jamaica, West Indies. II. Molluscan population variability along an environmental stress gradient. Marine Biology 14, 304–337 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348180
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348180