Analysis of variance of number of species, number of species standardized by per algal biomass; and numbers of individuals in experimental patches.

* = P *** = P Assemblage is the fixed comparison with three levels: a) monotypic assemblages (E, T, C) or b) (ET, EC and TC). Fragmentation is a fixed comparison with three levels (low, intermediate and high). Pairwise comparisons (SNK tests) for the three assemblage types within each diversity level, means in brackets (n = 4); No. species / biomass and no. individuals were transformed using log(x+1).