Benthic-pelagic coupling and intertidal community organization on Canada's Atlantic coast

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Species distribution and community structure are key ecosystem properties. Rocky intertidal systems have been often important to understand the factors influencing such properties, as these habitats are easily accessible at low tide and host relatively small organisms, facilitating field research. For years, intertidal communities were thought to be structured mainly by local processes such as disturbance and interspecific interactions. Recent research, however, has found that nearshore pelagic traits (e.g., seawater temperature, planktonic food supply) can influence benthic intertidal traits (e.g., recruitment, growth, and intensity of interspecific interactions) at larger scales, raising the concept of benthic-pelagic coupling (BPC). Common relationships have been identified between benthic and pelagic traits, but most research has been done on coasts dominated by upwelling (the Pacific American and Chilean coasts), leaving a knowledge gap for other coasts. I will use Canada's Atlantic coast to investigate BPC for a region where upwelling is much less prevalent and downwelling more common. Using permanent intertidal locations spanning the 530 km of Nova Scotia's Atlantic coast, I will first determine the latitudinal and interannual variation in algal and invertebrate abundance, barnacle and mussel recruitment and growth, and community structure. Using data from intertidal loggers and satellites, I will also determine the latitudinal and interannual variation in nearshore phytoplankton abundance (as chlorophyll-