Is algal species identity or diversity related to primary production in benthic marine communities?
Bruno, John*,1, Lee, Sarah1, Kertesz, Johanna1, Carpenter, Robert2, Boyer, Kathy3, Duffy, Emmett4, 1 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC2 California State University at Northridge, Northridge, CA3 San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA4 Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, Gloucester Point, VA ABSTRACT- Influential research in terrestrial habitats has shown that several ecosystem processes are related to plant diversity, yet these links remain poorly studied in marine ecosystems. We conducted a series of field and mesocosm experiments to explore the relative effects of macroalgal identity and diversity on primary production in hard-substratum subtidal communities in North Carolina and Jamaica. We measured primary production as the net accumulation of algal biomass in the absence of consumers and also as photosynthetic rate using an oxygen probe in sealed aquaria. In contrast to previous results from grasslands and microbial microcosms, our mani
