Natural Physical Disturbances and Communities of Marine Soft Bottoms

Natural physical d ~s t u r b a n c e s have been s h o w n to b e rmportant ~n Ihe organizdtion of a variety of terrestrial a n d marine communitics.Some workers h a v e suggested that disturbance may play a similar role in soft-bottom ~n f a u n a communities.A consequence of such a view is t h e expectation that some species will become unusually abuntlant early in t h e recolon~zation of a disturbed patch, reflecting thtbir d e p e n d e n c e on disturhsd localities for their persistence in t h e local community.I h a v e reviewed tlic.literature on soft-bottom communrtles a n d h a v e shown that s o m e specles become unusually a b u n d a n t early in the recovrl-y of a d ~s t u r b e d patch.T h e time course of t h e response of these species varies from hours to months, appdrently reflecting differences in life-history strategies.However, it is not clear that these species dre responding to a relsdse of resources caused by t h e absence of their cornpetitors a s predicted.T h e s e species may be responding to a resource provided by the disturbance without reference to compet~tors.Although present models provide a useful conceptual framework, a rigorous theory of how disturbance functions in soft-bottom comm~rnities has not emerged.