Journal
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
Volume 138, Issue -, Pages 84-95Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2018.04.009
Keywords
Abundance; Macrobenthos; Moreton bay; Multifractality; Patchiness; Seagrass; Self-similarity; Spatial scale; Taylor's index of aggregation
Funding
- Centre for Marine Science
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Spatial patterns of abundance of the whole macrobenthic assemblage and of its 10 most numerous species were examined across hierarchically nested scales within a 0.85 ha area of intertidal seagrass in subtropical Moreton Bay, Queensland. Multifractality characterised the assemblage and all ten dominant species across those scales (c. 33, 130, 530 & 2115 m(2)), with patchiness of assemblage numbers and those of at least some dominants exhibiting scale-invariance. The system displayed several abundance peaks, 12% of stations accounting for 88% of total variance, with many individual dominants showing a series of non-overlapping 'hot-spots'. Scale invariance and multifractality occurred notwithstanding low levels of species interaction consequent on maintenance at very low density. This suggests that critical self-organisation cannot be responsible for such patterning. Contrary to received wisdom, coefficient beta of Taylor's power-law cannot form an index of aggregation, although it does indicate direction of change in dispersion pattern with changing numbers.
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