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<DIV id=publishedOnlineDate><STRONG>Marine Ecology</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Article first published online: 22 SEP 2010</FONT></DIV>
<DIV id=doi><FONT
size=2>DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0485.2010.00398.x</FONT></DIV></FONT>
<DIV class=articleTitle><FONT size=3><STRONG></STRONG></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=articleTitle><FONT size=3><STRONG>Succession and seasonal onset of
colonization in subtidal hard-bottom communities </STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=articleTitle><FONT size=3><STRONG>off northern
Chile</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><SUP><FONT size=3>Aldo S. Pacheco1, Jürgen Laudien2,3, Martin Thiel4,5,
Marcelo Oliva1, Olaf Heilmayer6</FONT></SUP></DIV>
<DIV class=affiliation><SUP>1</SUP>Facultad de Recursos del Mar, Universidad de
Antofagasta, Antofagasta, Chile<SUP>2</SUP> Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar
and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany<SUP>3</SUP> Institute for Applied
Ecology GmbH, Broderstorf, Germany<SUP>4</SUP> Facultad de Ciencias del Mar,
Universidad Católica del Norte, Larrondo, Coquimbo, Chile<SUP>5</SUP> Centro de
Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Coquimbo, Chile<SUP>6</SUP> German
Aerospace Center (DLR), Bonn, Germany *Correspondence: Aldo S. Pacheco, Facultad
de Recursos del Mar, Universidad de Antofagasta, Av. Angamos 601, PO Box 170,
Antofagasta, Chile. E-mail: <!--TODO: clickthrough URL--><A
title="Link to email address" href="mailto:babuchapv@yahoo.com" shape=rect><FONT
color=#007e8a>babuchapv@yahoo.com</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV>
<H3>Abstract</H3>
<DIV class=para>
<P>Although there is extensive information concerning the colonization sequences
of benthic communities, little is known about the successional development of
subtidal hard-bottom habitats in highly productive coastal upwelling areas. In
these systems, succession is predicted to be fast due to high growth rate of the
later dominant colonizers. Using artificial hard substrata a field experiment
was conducted in a rocky subtidal area off Northern Chile (Humboldt Current
System) and monitored at 3-month intervals to test the following hypotheses: (i)
epibenthic succession may proceed through consecutive replacement of species,
(ii) there is a fast convergence rate towards natural communities, and (iii)
different seasonal starting points for the colonization will produce different
community structure over a 1-year period of exposure. Panels were installed on a
vertical wall at 17 m water depth. Three replicate panels were sampled
every 3 months over a period of 27 months. As a reference, six
haphazardly selected plots from the surrounding natural community were surveyed
at each sampling date. To evaluate how seasonally varying substratum
availability affects community development, further panels were exposed for a
12-month period, starting in four different seasons (n = 3 replicates
per season). Community succession was slow and occurred through progressive
changes, between early encrusting red corallines, middle
<EM>Balanus flosculus</EM> and late <EM>Lagenicella variabilis</EM>.
After 27 months, the community composition, but not its structure, was
similar between experimental and reference communities on surrounding rocky
bottoms. Seasonality had no effects and after 1 year of exposure the
experimental communities converged towards a common structure. This study
indicates that succession of subtidal epibenthic communities follows a slow and
predictable pattern with a dominant late colonial species. In addition,
aseasonal variability might be more relevant during colonization and succession
in this upwelling ecosystem.</P></DIV></FONT></DIV><BR><BR>__________
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