A Functional Group Approach to the Structure of Algal-Dominated Communities

1994/04/01 by Robert S. Steneck, Megan N. Dethier · 1,157 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Algae #Benthic zone #Biology #Biomass (ecology) #Botany #Cephalopods and Marine Biology #Community structure #Dominance (genetics) #Ecology #Geography #Marine Biology and Ecology Research #Marine and coastal plant biology #Predictability #Productivity #Taxon #Thallus

paper · doi:10.2307/3545860

published in Oikos 69(3), 476 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 1994/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

We suggest that relatively few species attributes are of overriding importance to the structure of benthic marine algal communities and that these are often shared among taxonomically distant species. Data from the western North Atlantic, eastern North Pacific and Caribbean suggest that patterns in algal biomass, diversity and dominance are strikingly convergent when examined at a functional group level relative to the productivity and herbivore-induced disturbance potentials of the environment. We present a simple graphical model that provides a way to predict algal community composition based on these two environmental axes. This predictability stems from algal functional groups having characteristic rates of mass-specific productivity, thallus longevity and canopy height that cause them to «behave» in similar ways (...)

Citations

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• Patch Dynamics and Stability of Some California Kelp Communities
• The Evolution of Thallus Form and Survival Strategies in Benthic Marine Macroalgae: Field and Laboratory Tests of a Functional Form Model

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