Abstract
The recolonization by harpacticoid copepods of patches disturbed by stingrays [Dasyatis sabina (LeSeur)] feeding in a subtidal (2–3 m depth) site off the Florida gulf coast (Lat. 29°54.55′N, Long. 84°31.45′W) was followed. Samples from disturbed patches could no longer be distinguished from control samples in terms of numbers of harpacticoids 29 h after disturbance. No species became significantly disproportionately abundant during the recovery suggesting that small-scale natural disturbances are not an important organizing force in this community.
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Communicated by J. M. Lawrence, Tampa
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Reidenauer, J.A., Thistle, D. Response of a soft-bottom harpacticoid community to stingray (Dasyatis sabina) disturbance. Mar. Biol. 65, 261–267 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397120
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397120