A Functional Group Approach to the Structure of Algal-Dominated Communities

We suggest that relatively few species attributes are of overriding importance to the structure of benthic marine algal communities and that these are often shared among taxonomically distant species. Data from the western North Atlantic, eastern North Pacific and Caribbean suggest that patterns in algal biomass, diversity and dominance are strikingly convergent when examined at a functional group level relative to the productivity and herbivore-induced disturbance potentials of the environment. We present a simple graphical model that provides a way to predict algal community composition based on these two environmental axes. This predictability stems from algal functional groups having characteristic rates of mass-specific productivity, thallus longevity and canopy height that cause them to «behave» in similar ways (...)