Seasonality: effects in marine benthic communities.

Abstract

Pursues the hypothesis that seasonality in density-dependent factors, especially in trophic resources, poses such significant adaptive problems that their solutions have given rise to the patterns in species numbers and in faunal composition which therefore correlate with patterns in seasonality. The main sections of this chapter consider: 1) seasonal parameters with primarily density-independent effects - temperature, salinity and other physical variables; 2) seasonal parameters with primarily density-dependent effects - light, nutrients and primary production; 3) processes that mediate density-dependent effects - reproduction and development, and niche expansion; and 4) consequences for biotic patterns - diversity, composition, and their interactions.- P.J.Jarvis