THE CRITICAL ROLE OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ECOLOGICAL FOUNDATION SPECIES IN STRUCTURING A MANGROVE COMMUNITY

The main objective of this research was to analyze how well my proposed Foundation Species Interaction model explained the benthic communities found on red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) prop roots. This research investigated the connections between the primary foundation species (mangroves), the dominant secondary foundations species (oysters, sponges, and barnacles), and the resulting biodiversity in order to understand the temporal and spatial variability of the ecosystems at different community levels. Chapter 1 was dedicated to explaining my change in ecological theory, the Foundation Species Interaction model. The interactions included in the model between the foundations species that were examined were the mutualistic (+, +), commensal (+, 0), and parasitic (+, -) interactions. Chapter 2 focused on exploration of the mangrove ecosystem in Southeast Florida and establishing where the secondary foundation species and prop root epibionts where found along the latitudinal gradient. The survey investigated the connections between mangroves, the dominant secondary foundations species (e.g. oysters, sponges, and barnacles), and the resulting biodiversity to understand the temporal and spatial variability of the ecosystems at different community levels. Chapter 3 was dedicated to testing the Foundation Species Interaction model’s ability to predict the biodiversity along the latitudinal gradient of the survey. The difference in mangrove prop root communities were largely explained by where the communities laid along the latitudinal gradient and by secondary foundation species presence. The shift from one foundation species to another had sizable effects on biodiversity. Chapter 4 combined the Foundation Species Interaction model with the established predation hypothesis and tested their abilities to explain biodiversity along the latitudinal gradient. This allowed for shifts in community structure to be examined for top-down and bottom-up influences. Predation effects changed along the latitudinal gradient, as the predation effects changed so did the effects of each of the individual foundation species.