Intertidal community development along a distance/age gradient in a tidewater glacial fjord

Abstract

Glacier Bay has recently undergone rapid deglaciation, exposing new substrates to colonization and biological development. There is a clearly defined increase in marine intertidal community development with substrate age (0-200 y) and distance (0-90 km) from present-day locations of tidewater glacier termini. The objectives of this research were (1) to describe length-of-fjord patterns of intertidal community composition and corresponding gradients of the near-surface marine physical environment and (2) to use this approach to evaluate the relative contributions of substrate age and physical factors to determining the degree of community development. Distance and age were almost perfectly correlated. Intertidal species richness increased linearly with distance/age. Environmental factors can be grouped into those that also varied linearly along this gradient, and those that varied exponentially. Distance from the glaciers and the other linearly correlated marine environmental factors of water temperature, salinity, and suspended particulate nitrogen factors are probably the most important determinants of intertidal community development.