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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