Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1984

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Abstract

Colonization experiments were conducted in the Loxahatchee River estuary to characterize the response patterns of polychaetes to simulated small-scale disturbances. Colonizing polychaetes clustered into three groups based upon their time of establishment and degree of population response. The lack of significant response to disturbance by several classical opportunists does not support predictive models of colonization based on differences in adaptive strategies. Community resiliency, or the rate of recovery, showed considerable seasonal variation according to the timing of the applied disturbances. While most of the species common to the natural bottom were present in the experimental boxes after one month, quantitative recovery required eight months. Predictable events included initial colonization by Polydora socialis and Pseudopolydora pulchra and secondary colonization by a number of classical opportunists. Small-scale disturbances during periods of peak recruitment may have actually enriched the benthic community by creating a mosaic of patches in different states of recovery, permitting the co-existence of more species.

Extent

162 p.

Comments

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1984.|Charles E. Schmidt College of Science|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1984.

Identifier

FADT14226

Format

pdf

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