Data from: The multiple roles of β–diversity help untangle community assembly processes affecting recovery of temperate rocky shores

Metacommunity theory highlights the potential of β–diversity as a useful link to empirical research, especially in diverse systems where species exhibit a range of stage-dependent dispersal characteristics. To investigate the importance of different components and scales of β–diversity in community assembly we conducted a large-scale disturbance experiment and compared relative recovery across multiple sites and among plots within sites on the rocky shore. Six sites were spread along 80 km of coastline and, at each site, 5 plots were established, matching disturbed and undisturbed quadrats. Recovery was not complete at any of the sites after 1 year for either epibenthos (mostly composed of macroalgae and, locally, mussels) or infauna. Significant differences in recovery among sites were observed for epibenthos but not for infauna suggesting different community assembly processes were operating. This was supported by epibenthos in the recovering plots having higher species turnover than in undisturbed sediment, and recovery well predicted by local diversity, while infaunal recovery was strongly influenced by the epibenthic community’s habitat complexity. However, infaunal community recovery did not simply track formation of habitat by recovering epibenthos, but appeared to be overlain by within-site and among-site aspects of infaunal -diversity. These results suggest that documenting changes in the large plants and animals alone will be a poor surrogate for rocky shore community assembly processes. No role for ecological connectivity (negative effect of among-site β–diversity) in driving recovery was observed, suggesting a low risk of effects from multiple disturbances propagating along the coast, but a limited resilience at the site scale to large-scale disturbances such as landslides or oil spills.

集合群落理论（Metacommunity theory）指出，β多样性（β–diversity）可作为连接实证研究的有效纽带，尤其适用于物种丰富且呈现出一系列阶段依赖扩散特征的生态系统。为探究β多样性的不同组分与尺度在群落装配过程中的重要性，我们开展了一项大规模干扰实验，在岩岸生境中对比了多个样点内部及样点间样地的相对恢复情况。实验沿80公里海岸线布设了6个样点，每个样点内设置5个样地，包含受干扰与未受干扰的样方（quadrats）。经过1年时间，无论是底上生物（epibenthos，主要由大型藻类及局地贻贝构成）还是底内生物（infauna），其恢复均未达到完全状态。底上生物的恢复在不同样点间存在显著差异，而底内生物则无此现象，这表明二者的群落装配过程存在差异。恢复样地中的底上生物物种周转（species turnover）速率高于未受干扰的沉积物生境，且其恢复情况可通过局地多样性较好地预测，这进一步支持了上述结论；而底内生物的恢复则显著受底上生物群落生境复杂性（habitat complexity）的影响。不过，底内生物的恢复并非简单追随底上生物的生境形成过程，其恢复格局似乎还叠加了样点内部及样点间的底内生物β多样性特征。本研究结果表明，仅记录大型动植物的变化，难以准确替代岩岸群落装配过程的研究。未观测到生态连通性（ecological connectivity，表现为样点间β多样性的负效应）在驱动恢复过程中发挥作用，这意味着沿海岸传播的多起干扰所产生的影响风险较低，但样点尺度下，针对滑坡、石油泄漏等大规模干扰的恢复力较为有限。