Mangrove ecology--Florida

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.

Colonization of infauna in a newly constructed mangrove environment at Spanish River Park, Boca Raton, Florida was studied for six months following initial site preparation. Monthly core samples for benthic invertebrates were collected from December 1994 to June 1995. Sampling stations were chosen randomly each month in three zones along two transects across a tidal channel: upper mangrove, lower mangrove, and mangrove/Spartina. Fiddler crab burrows were counted within randomly placed square meter quadrats in each zone. Rapid succession over short-term indicated the constructed environment would eventually become an established, functional mangrove community. Natural infaunal colonization began immediately, and a total of 26 species was collected during the study period. The most abundant species were microdrile oligochaetes, capitellid polychaetes, and dipteran larvae. Fiddler crab holes were first encountered in April 1995 and reached a maximum in June of 42 burrows per m^2. No significant zonation (p > 0.05) was found in the most abundant species, average infaunal density, or fiddler crab holes. Samples from two reference sites showed similar faunas, with the organisms found in adjacent channel areas an influencing factor on species diversity and density.