Rocky intertidal shores

Abstract

Estuarine rocky intertidal habitats are like similar habitats on open coasts, which are sheltered from large waves, with some modifications. Estuaries generally have irregular pulses of freshwater, which reduces the number of species that live on estuarine rocky shores. Nevertheless, they are often occupied by a suite of micro-and macroalgae, ses-sile habitat-forming animals, herbivores, predators, and scavengers. Interactions among these species and their responses to local conditions are complex, occur at multiple spatial scales, and vary through time. This variability, natural to all intertidal assemblages, makes their responses to climatic change and other anthropogenic disturbances difficult to predict. Yet with increasing urbanization in and around estuarine areas, these assemblages are becoming more vulnerable to disturbances from which they may not fully recover.