How do you explain intermediate disturbance hypothesis?

The intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) suggests that local species diversity is maximized when ecological disturbance is neither too rare nor too frequent. At low levels of disturbance, more competitive organisms will push subordinate species to extinction and dominate the ecosystem.

What is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis give an example?

The intermediate disturbance hypothesis states that moderate levels of disturbance can create conditions that foster greater species diversity than low or high levels of disturbance. For example, different frequencies of flooding affect the richness of invertebrate taxa living in beds of streams.

What happens if intertidal zones are rocky?

Intertidal zones richer in sediments are filled with different species of clams, sand dollars, and worms. At rocky shorelines, tide pools can form in holes, cracks, or crevices where seawater collects as the tide goes out.

What is the rocky intertidal zone?

The intertidal zone is the area where the ocean meets the land between high and low tides. Intertidal zones exist anywhere the ocean meets the land, from steep, rocky ledges to long, sloping sandy beaches and mudflats that can extend for hundreds of meters.

Why is intermediate disturbance hypothesis important?

The intermediate disturbance hypothesis predicts high richness in communities subject to a moderate degree of disturbance or stress; according to this model, high stress leads to mortality in all but fast-growing individuals, and under low stress, inter- and intraspecific interactions such as competition and predation …

Who proposed the intermediate disturbance hypothesis?

Connell
BACKGROUND. In this study, Wayne Sousa tested the intermediate disturbance hypothesis proposed by Connell (1978). In the 70’s and 80’s ecologists hotly debated factors explaining high diversity in tropical regions and bottom of the deep sea.

Who came up with intermediate disturbance hypothesis?

Why is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis important?

Why do rocky shores have high biodiversity?

Rocky shores are biologically rich environments. Species here have become adapted to deal with the extreme conditions created by the movement of the tides and many cannot be found anywhere else.

What are three abiotic factors of a rocky shore ecosystem?

Abiotic factors include temperature, dissolved oxygen, PH, location, and salinity (Bertness). Both abiotic and biotic factors affect the diversity of organisms within a tide pool.

Why intertidal zone is important?

Why Is the Intertidal Zone Important? The intertidal or littoral zone maintains a balance between the land and the sea. It provides a home to specially adapted marine plants and animals. Those organisms, in turn, serve as food for many other animals.

What organisms are the most abundant in the rocky intertidal?

Seaweeds are most abundant in the sub-tidal zone where they often form dense kelp forests and provide habitats for many fish, worms, crustaceans, gastropods, and many more marine animals. Certain species can be found in the intertidal zone and more commonly these are green species of algae such as sea lettuce.

How are species richness and diversity across intertidal regions?

Thus, we predicted a unimodal trend for richness and diversity across elevation. On all three shores, richness increased from high to middle elevations, but remained similar between middle and low elevations. Diversity followed the same trend on one shore and different trends (although also non-unimodal) on the other two.

Why was the intermediate disturbance hypothesis so important?

The hypothesis caused concern among the marine science community because of the discrepancy with the 1976 Competition/Predation/Disturbance model proposed by Menge and Sutherland In this model, low disturbance influences high predation and high disturbance creates low predation, causing competitive exclusion to take place.

How are species adapted to an intermediate level of disturbance?

Support and critiques. This is because species generally adapt to the level of disturbance in their ecosystem through evolution (whether disturbance is of high, intermediate or low level). Many species (e.g. ruderal plants and fire-adapted species) even depend on disturbance in ecosystems where it often occurs.

Why is diversity maximized at intermediate levels of disturbance?

at intermediate levels of disturbance, diversity is maximized because species that thrive at both early and late successional stages can coexist, III. at high levels of disturbance species richness is decreased due an increase in species movement. Disturbances act to disrupt stable ecosystems and clear species’ habitat.