Associations Between Arthropods and the Supralittoral Ecotone: Dependence of Aquatic and Terrestrial Taxa on Riparian Vegetation

In this paper we present a structural analysis of the abundance and distribution of arthropods in relation to supralittoral vegetation in the ecotone between the sea and the land. We evaluated the family-level richness and abundance of aquatic and terrestrial arthropods in marine supralittoral habitats and related arthropod assemblages to the presence and composition of supralittoral vegetation. Our results suggest that removal of supralittoral vegetation may have cascading effects on supralittoral arthropod communities and may adversely affect the productivity of both aquatic and terrestrial arthropods.