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UC Berkeley
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Museum of Physical Factors
Rocky Seashore Communities
My dissertation research and my initial research at Berkeley focused on the role of disturbance in structuring rocky intertidal communities. My dissertation demonstrated that intermediate levels of disturbance could maintain the diversity of algal assemblages, and tested several alternative models of successional species replacement. Shortly after joining the Berkeley faculty, I conducted a study of the interaction between the effects of disturbance patch size and herbivory on successional dynamics within intertidal mussel beds. I also investigated the influence of propagule availability on successional patterns. This work was conducted at the marine reserve at the Bodega Marine Laboratory. Although I have not worked on the seashore for some years, I recently wrote an extensive literature review on the role of disturbance in marine benthic communities.

Related Publications

Sousa, W.P. 1979. Experimental investigations of disturbance and ecological succession in a rocky intertidal algal community. Ecological Monographs 49:227-254. (ESA Mercer Award)

Sousa, W.P. 1979. Disturbance in marine intertidal boulder fields: the nonequilibrium maintenance of species diversity. Ecology 60:1225-1239.

Sousa, W.P. 1980. The response of a community to disturbance: the importance of successional age and species' life histories. Oecologia 45:72-81.

Sousa, W.P., S.C. Schroeter, and S.D. Gaines. 1981. Latitudinal variation in intertidal algal community structure: the influence of grazing and vegetative propagation. Oecologia 48:297-307.

Sousa, W.P. 1984. Intertidal mosaics: patch size, propagule availability, and spatially variable patterns of succession. Ecology 65:1918-1935.

Sousa, W.P. 1985. Disturbance and patch dynamics on rocky intertidal shores. Pages 101-124 in S.T.A. Pickett and P.S. White, eds. The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics. Academic Press, New York .