Population Dynamics in a Sublittoral Epifauna

Abstract

At present we have little evidence that successional changes following predictable patterns occur among epifaunal communities living on natural rock-reefs in the shallow sublittoral of. the open ocean. If this phenomenon does occur here, it can be detected by sustained observations at a single study site. In the period from 1957 to 1960 I conducted an intensive study of the epifaunas of two submarine hogbacks located at different depths off the coast of Corona del Mar, California. Some observations made during this period indicate that both gradual and disruptive changes do occur in these epifaunal communities. Attention is called in this paper to an abrupt change in population density of a predominant species that occurred on part of the shallower reef, and to the widespread biotal adjustments that ensued.