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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 61(11)

Patterns of demography for rocky-shore, intertidal invertebrates approaching their geographical range limits: tests of the abundant-centre hypothesis in south-eastern Australia

Eszter Z. Hidas A , David J. Ayre A and Todd E. Minchinton A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Institute for Conservation Biology & School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: tminch@uow.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 61(11) 1243-1251 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF09317
Submitted: 23 December 2009  Accepted: 21 May 2010   Published: 16 November 2010

Abstract

The abundant-centre hypothesis predicts that species' abundances peak at the centre of their geographical ranges and decline gradually towards their range limits. We tested predictions of this hypothesis for three rocky-shore, intertidal invertebrates with planktonic larvae (the whelk, Morula marginalba, the snail, Afrolittorina pyramidalis, and the barnacle, Tesseropora rosea) by quantifying their patterns of abundance and size, and inferring pulses of recruitment from size-frequency distributions, at multiple spatial scales spanning a 600-km region in south-eastern Australia and encompassing roughly the southern third of their geographical ranges. At the regional scale, abundances for all species were, as predicted, dramatically lower at their range limits. This decline was not gradual, however, because there were large variations in abundance at smaller spatial scales, and abrupt declines at the south-eastern corner of Australia. Size did not change towards the range limit for any species, but size-frequency distributions suggested a decline in the frequency of recruitment events at the range limit for T. rosea. We conclude that the abundant-centre hypothesis is not an appropriate model for abundance distributions of benthic marine invertebrates with planktonic larvae, because of the vagaries of dispersal and recruitment interacting with complex current patterns along non-uniform coastlines.

Additional keywords: abundant-centre hypothesis, biogeography, dispersal, distribution, planktonic larvae, recruitment, size-frequency.


Acknowledgements

We thank J. Lathlean, D. Roberts, L. Coulson, L. McKenzie, J. Dunn, C. Perrin, K. Ottewell, A. Constantinides, T. Turner, M. Hidas, L. Maddigan and S. C. Ordenes for assistance with field sampling, and K. Russell for help with statistical analyses. We appreciate the constructive comments of several colleagues and the referees. Research was carried out under permits from NSW DPI and Parks Victoria. Funding for the research was provided by the Institute for Conservation Biology and School of Biological Sciences at the University of Wollongong and an Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant (DP0666787).


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