Lack of significant change in epiphyte biomass with increasing extent of measurement within seagrass meadows

Abstract

A significant consideration in defining patterns of ecological interest is determining at what spatial scales these patterns are apparent. We performed a mensurative experiment to determine the effect of how changing the extent of sampling, using a fixed grain (panning up), changed our measurements of seagrass epiphyte biomass at a variety of hierarchical spatial scales, ranging from approximately 0.1 m to 2.5 × 10 5 m. The experiment was performed twice at two sets of nested locations, also capturing an element of seasonality within the spatial extents. While the two regions and their nested locations differed in terms of epiphyte biomass, and values did change over time, mean epiphyte values were invariant at the local scale. This indicates that at the local scale (≤100 m extent), we expect seagrass epiphyte biomass to be relatively homogenous. Contrary to theoretical predictions, we did not detect predictable changes in mean values of epiphyte biomass as sampling extent increased. The results of this study highlight the importance of recognizing the spatial dependence of patterns in heterogeneous environments.