Landscape Ecology in the Rocky Intertidal: Opportunities for Advancing Discovery and Innovation in Intertidal Research

Abstract

Purpose of ReviewIn this paper, I review the development of landscape-based studies in rocky intertidal communities. The rocky intertidal has served as the site of a number of influential studies in ecology that have helped demonstrate the importance of biological and physical structuring processes in nature. Owing to its ease of access and preponderance of sessile species, the intertidal has also played an important role in studies that monitor the health of coastal systems. Traditional data gathering approaches such as meter tapes and quadrats provide limited capacity to capture data at the spatial and temporal scales across which intertidal systems are currently changing. New approaches and methods are now needed to more efficiently record data across the organizational scales within which ecological processes structure the intertidal.Recent FindingsRecent developments in landscape-based theory have expanded the types of research questions asked by intertidal ecologists. The subsequent incorporation of geospatial technologies into field studies that test the predictions of emerging landscape theory has revealed emergent patterns in intertidal communities and previously unrecognized relationships between species and habitat across multiple scales of ecological organization.SummaryNew landscape-based approaches will improve our capacity to collect and analyze data and improve quantitative inferences on how habitat complexity affects patterns of species abundance in the intertidal. The continued integration of landscape ecology into rocky intertidal research can help advance discovery science and provide a platform for bridging basic discovery science with conservation and management efforts centered about this important marine habitat.