TOP-DOWN HERBIVORY AND BOTTOM-UP EL NIÑO EFFECTS ON GALÁPAGOS ROCKY-SHORE COMMUNITIES

@article{Vinueza2006TOPDOWNHA,
  title={TOP-DOWN HERBIVORY AND BOTTOM-UP EL NI{\~N}O EFFECTS ON GAL{\'A}PAGOS ROCKY-SHORE COMMUNITIES},
  author={Luis R. Vinueza and George M. Branch and Margo L. Branch and Rodrigo H. Bustamante},
  journal={Ecological Monographs},
  year={2006},
  volume={76},
  pages={111-131}
}
We evaluated the effects of marine iguanas, sally lightfoot crabs, and fish on rocky-shore sessile organisms at two sites at Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, for 3–5 years during and after the 1997–1998 El Nino, using exclusion cages to separate the effects. Plots exposed to natural grazing were dominated either by encrusting algae or by red algal turf and articulated corallines. Algae fluctuated in response to El Nino in the following way. During an early phase, crustose… 
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Comparisons between historical and recent ecological datasets indicate that shallow reef habitats across the central Galapagos Archipelago underwent major transformation at the time of the severe 1982/1983 El Nino warming event, resulting in large local and regional declines in biodiversity.
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Surprisingly, crustose coralline algae (CCA) showed a remarkable total cover increase by 58%, while turf algae cover decreased by 82%, in experimental plots after seven weeks of piscine macroherbivore exclusion, which apparently contradict the results of most previous similar studies.
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The results suggest that, when a broader oceanographic scenario is taken into account, the relative importance of top-down and bottom-up forces are context dependent, varying with oceanographic regime and climatic variability.
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TLDR
It is demonstrated that nutrient subsidies delivered by upwelling events can weaken herbivory in tropical rocky shores, confirming that herbivores are key determinants of tropical algal cover, and that the mollusk grazing guild can control initial stages of macroalgal succession.
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TLDR
The results support previous work demonstrating the importance of both top-down and bottom-up influences on rocky shore populations, and highlight how future research—particularly integrating studies of the different ontogenetic stages of mussels—could further advance understanding of biological population dynamics in this and other systems.
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TLDR
Results show that grazers can prevent ephemeral algal blooms at the most sheltered shores, and that wave modulation of nutrient supply may be a very important factor controlling abundance of midshore intertidal macroalgae, and deserves more attention in typically nutrient-depleted tropical and subtropical shores.
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Herbivory by the crab represents an important direct and indirect control of plant growth in Southwestern marshes populated by S. densiflora and N. granulata, and the results emphasize the importance of considering impacts on growth rates and not only on biomass.
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TLDR
The effects of molluscan grazers on mid-intertidal algal succession and the effects of Chiton granosus, the most conspicuous member of the assemblage at these tidal elevations were evaluated, with strong negative effects on colonization and abundance of green algae such as ulvoids and Blidingia minima.
Factors that structure algal communities in tropical rocky shores: what have we learned?
Experiments in tropical rocky intertidal habitats across the globe have identified various effects of biological and physical factors on algal assemblage. High- and mid-intertidal rocky shores in…
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