Role of a natural disturbance in an assemblage of marine free-living nematodes

One of the predictions of theoretical treatments of soft-bottom benthos is: if disturbance were responsible for the persistence of a species in a community, that species should become disproportionately abundant in recently disturbed patches. We investigated this prediction using marine free-living nematode species in subtidal (2 to 3 m depth) sediments off the Florida panhandle (29°54.55’N, 84°31.45’W), frequently disturbed by stingrays (Dasyatis sabina). In disturbed sediments nematode densities gradually increased over 4 d until they exceeded abundances in background sediments 96 h after the initial disturbance. None of the species examined responded to disturbance in the manner expected. We conclude that small-scale natural disturbances are not important in the maintenance of nematode species in this community.