COMPARATIVE ECOLOGY OF NORTH ATLANTIC SHORES: DO DIFFERENCES IN PLAYERS MATTER FOR PROCESS?

• Main Authors: Stuart R. Jenkins, Pippa Moore, Michael T. Burrows, David J. Garbary, Stephen J. Hawkins
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.174.3531; http://www.sos.bangor.ac.uk/staff/pdf/SJ_Jenkins_et_al_Ecology_2008.pdf

Abstract. The contrasting histories of the western and eastern shores of the North Atlantic Ocean provide an excellent opportunity to consider the implications of past events for present ecological processes and the functioning of marine ecosystems. Similarities and differences in assemblage composition have been driven by large-scale events, such as the trans-Arctic interchange, which has shaped the species pool, and cycles of glaciation, which have determined phases of local or regional extinction and colonization. More recently, anthropogenically induced invasions and local extinctions have significantly altered biogeographic distributions. Here we consider for both hard and soft substrata how the presence or absence of key taxa influences the outcomes of trophic and other biological interactions, and evaluate the consequences for community structure and ecosystem functioning. On intertidal hard substratum shores, biodiversity of epilithic microphagous grazers differs across latitudinal and longitudinal scales. Diversity is high in southern Europe but declines to the north and across the Atlantic. Lower diversity and the absence of patellid