Patterns and processes influencing the structure of marine assemblages

Distribution and dispersal

The distribution patterns of marine organisms are influenced by physical and biological processes in both ecological time (tens of years) and geologic time (hundreds to millions of years). The shapes of the Earth’s oceans have been influenced by plate tectonics, and as a consequence the distributions of fossil and extant marine organisms also have been affected. Vicariance theory argues that plate tectonics has a major role in determining biogeographic patterns (see biogeographic region: Dispersalist and vicariance biogeography). For example, Australia was once—90 million years ago—close to the South Pole and had few coral reefs. Since then Australia has been moving a few millimetres each year closer to the Equator. As a result of this movement and local oceanographic conditions, coral reef environments are extending ever so slowly southward. Dispersal may also have an important role in biogeographic patterns of abundance. The importance of dispersal varies greatly with local oceanographic features, such as the direction and intensity of currents and the biology of the organisms. Humans can also have an impact on patterns of distribution and the extinction of marine organisms. For example, fishing intensity in the Irish Sea was based on catch limits set for cod with no regard for the biology of other species. One consequence of this practice was that the local skate, which had a slow reproductive rate, was quickly fished to extinction.

A characteristic of many marine organisms is a bipartite life cycle, which can affect the dispersal of an organism. Most animals found on soft and hard substrata, such as lobsters (see Figure 4), crabs, barnacles, fish, polychaete worms, and sea urchins, spend their larval phase in the plankton and in this phase are dispersed most widely (see above Plankton). The length of the larval phase, which can vary from a few minutes to hundreds of days, has a major influence on dispersal. For example, wrasses of the genus Thalassoma have a long larval life, compared with many other types of reef fish, and populations of these fish are well dispersed to the reefs of isolated volcanic islands around the Pacific. The bipartite life cycle of algae also affects their dispersal, which occurs through algal spores. Although in general, spores disperse only a short distance from adult plants, limited swimming abilities—Macrocystis spores have flagella—and storms can disperse spores over greater distances.

Migrations of marine organisms

The migrations of plankton and nekton throughout the water column in many parts of the world are well described. Diurnal vertical migrations are common. For example, some types of plankton, fish, and squid remain beneath the photic zone during the day, moving toward the surface after dusk and returning to the depths before dawn. It is generally argued that marine organisms migrate in response to light levels. This behaviour may be advantageous because by spending the daylight hours in the dim light or darkness beneath the photic zone plankton can avoid predators that locate their prey visually. After the Sun has set, plankton can rise to the surface waters where food is more abundant and where they can feed safely under the cover of darkness.

Larval forms can facilitate their horizontal transport along different currents by migrating vertically. This is possible because currents can differ in direction according to depth (e.g., above and below haloclines and thermoclines), as is the case in estuaries.

In coastal waters many larger invertebrates (e.g., mysids, amphipods, and polychaete worms) leave the cover of algae and sediments to migrate into the water column at night. It is thought that these animals disperse to different habitats or find mates by swimming when visual predators find it hard to see them. In some cases only one sex will emerge at night, and often that sex is morphologically better suited for swimming.

Horizontal migrations of fish that span distances of hundreds of metres to tens of kilometres are common and generally related to patterns of feeding or reproduction. Tropical coral trout (Plectropomus species) remain dispersed over a reef for most of the year, but adults will aggregate at certain locations at the time of spawning. Transoceanic migrations (greater than 1,000 kilometres) are observed in a number of marine vertebrates, and these movements often relate to requirements of feeding and reproduction. Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) traverse the Atlantic Ocean in a single year; they spawn in the Caribbean, then swim to high latitudes of the Atlantic to feed on the rich supply of fish. Turtles and sharks also migrate great distances.

Fish that spend their lives in both marine and freshwater systems (diadromous animals) exhibit some of the most spectacular migratory behaviour. Anadromous fishes (those that spend most of their lives in the sea but migrate to fresh water to spawn) such as Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) also have unique migratory patterns. After spawning, the adults die. Newly hatched fish (alevin) emerge from spawned eggs and develop into young fry that move down rivers toward the sea. Juveniles (parr) grow into larger fish (smolt) that convene near the ocean. When the adult fish are ready to spawn, they return to the river in which they were born (natal river), using a variety of environmental cues, including the Earth’s magnetic field, the Sun, and water chemistry. It is believed that the thyroid gland has a role in imprinting the water chemistry of the natal river on the fish. Freshwater eels such as the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) undertake great migrations from fresh water to spawn in the marine waters of the Sargasso Sea (catadromous migrations), where they die. Eel larvae, called leptocephalus larvae, drift back to Europe in the Gulf Stream.

Dynamics of populations and assemblages

A wide variety of processes influence the dynamics of marine populations of individual species and the composition of assemblages (e.g., collections of populations of different species that live in the same area). With the exception of marine mammals such as whales, fish that bear live young (e.g., embiotocid fish), and brooders (i.e., fauna that incubate their offspring until they emerge as larvae or juveniles), most marine organisms produce a large number of offspring of which few survive. Processes that affect the plankton can have a great influence on the numbers of young that survive to be recruited, or relocated, into adult populations. The survival of larvae may depend on the abundance of food at various times and in various places, the number of predators, and oceanographic features that retain larvae near suitable nursery areas. The number of organisms recruited to benthic and pelagic systems may ultimately determine the size of adult populations and therefore the relative abundance of species in marine assemblages. However, many processes can affect the survival of organisms after recruitment. Predators eat recruits, and mortality rates in prey species can vary with time and space, thus changing original population patterns established in recruitment.

Patterns of colonization and succession can have a significant impact on benthic assemblages. For example, when intertidal reefs are cleared experimentally, the assemblage of organisms that colonize the bare space often reflects the types of larvae available in local waters at the time. Tube worms may dominate if they establish themselves first; if they fail to do so, algal spores may colonize the shore first and inhibit the settlement of these worms. Competition between organisms may also play a role. Long-term data gathered over periods of more than 25 years from coral reefs have demonstrated that some corals (e.g., Acropora cytherea) competitively overgrow neighbouring corals. Physical disturbance from hurricanes destroys many corals, and during regrowth competitively inferior species can coexist with normally dominant species on the reef. Chemical defenses of sessile organisms also can deter the growth or cause increased mortality of organisms that settle on them. Ascidian larvae (e.g., Podoclavella) often avoid settling on sponges (e.g., Mycale); when this does occur, the larvae rarely reach adulthood.

Although the processes that determine species assemblages may be understood, variations occur in the composition of the plankton that make it difficult to predict patterns of colonization with great accuracy.