Disturbance, dispersal and marine assemblage structure: A case study from the nearshore Southern Ocean

Robinson, Ben J.O. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7450-686X; Barnes, David K.A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9076-7867; Morley, Simon A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7761-660X. 2020 Disturbance, dispersal and marine assemblage structure: A case study from the nearshore Southern Ocean. Marine Environmental Research, 160, 105025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.105025

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Abstract/Summary

Disturbance is a key factor in most natural environments and, globally, disturbance regimes are changing, driven by increased anthropogenic influences, including climate change. There is, however, still a lack of understanding about how disturbance interacts with species dispersal capacity to shape marine assemblage structure. We examined the impact of ice scour disturbance history (2009–2016) on the nearshore seafloor in a highly disturbed region of the Western Antarctic Peninsula by contrasting the response of two groups with different dispersal capacities: one consisting of high-dispersal species (mobile with pelagic larvae) and one of low-dispersal species (sessile with benthic larvae). Piecewise Structural Equation Models were constructed to test multi-factorial predictions of the underlying mechanisms, based on hypothesised responses to disturbance for the two groups. At least two or three disturbance factors, acting at different spatial scales, drove assemblage composition. A comparison between both high- and low-dispersal models demonstrated that these mechanisms are dispersal dependent. Disturbance should not be treated as a single metric, but should incorporate remote and direct disturbance events with consideration of taxa-dispersal and disturbance legacy. These modelling approaches can provide insights into how disturbance shapes assemblages in other disturbance regimes, such as fire-prone forests and trawl fisheries.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.105025
ISSN:	01411136
Additional Keywords:	Disturbance, Dispersal, Ice scour, Assemblage structure, Benthos, Antarctica
Date made live:	28 May 2020 08:47 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527829

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.105025

ISSN:

01411136

Additional Keywords:

Disturbance, Dispersal, Ice scour, Assemblage structure, Benthos, Antarctica

Date made live:

28 May 2020 08:47 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/527829