Abstract
Animals in the intertidal, both mobile and sessile, generally exhibit some zonation pattern, in which each species shows a preference for, or is confined to, some height levels. The study of zonation patterns is, however, almost exclusively based on surveys made during low tide, when many animals are relatively inactive. We studied zonation patterns of amphipods and isopods on rocky shores in southwestern Iceland, both by traditional sampling at low tide as well as by sampling during high tide. The distributional patterns seen at high tide differed significantly from that at low tide. One amphipod, Anonyx sarsi, was common around baits at all levels at high tide but absent from the intertidal at low tide. Several other species were either relatively more common or tended to be recorded higher, or in one instance, lower on the shore when the tide was in than at low tide. There was also evidence of some species changing habitats within the intertidal with the tidal cycle. Many species, however, moved little away from their respective zones occupied at low tide, and for some species, including some capable of rapid swimming, very limited mobility was indicated. We conclude that low-tide surveys of the intertidal give an incomplete picture of the community structure, and even key species may be missed in such surveys.
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Acknowledgements
A large number of assistants have, over the years, taken part with me in surveying rocky shores of southwestern Iceland. These are too numerous to mention individually, but Maria B. Steinarsdóttir deserves special thanks for outstanding work over a number of years. We also wish to thank Magnea Karlsdóttir and Svava S. Steinarsdóttir for their large part in operating the traps and sorting their contents, and Karl Gunnarsson for diving for Ascophyllum samples. The study was to a considerable extent financed through grants from the RANNIS Science Fund. We thank Jörundur Svavarsson and Laura May-Collado for their helpful comments on a version of this manuscript. All handling of animals in this study has been in accordance with Icelandic laws.
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Communicated by L. Hagermann, Helsingør
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Ingólfsson, A., Agnarsson, I. Amphipods and isopods in the rocky intertidal: dispersal and movements during high tide. Marine Biology 143, 859–866 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-003-1132-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-003-1132-6