A bank of microscopic forms on disturbed boulders and stones in tide pools

Abstract

Disturbed marine habitats contain banks of microscopic forms that develop into macroscopic vegetation under adequate conditions. This study examined seasonal species turnover, timespace community development and species-area relationships of an assemblage of microscopic forms, on boulders and stones in two tidal pools of C Chile. A total of 25 taxa were found in the assemblage, with low species turnover throughout the year. The assemblage contained about twice the number of species present in the water column and about half the number present in the macroscopic vegetation. The number of species was high, suggesting that disturbance affects the macroscopic expression of diversity rather than the total number of species. -from Authors