Abstract
The theoretical validity of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis is investigated with a model for hierarchical competition between marine species that have space-limited, benthic adults and pelagic larvae. The model explicitly incorporates larval and adult dynamics for two species, one of which overgrows the other. Conclusions include: (1) The subordinate must be a stress tolerator or ruderal for coexistence with a competitive dominant. (2) The intermediate disturbance principle is a moderate-to-high settlement phenomenon: coexistence is possible at sufficiently low settlement even without the aid of disturbance, but at high settlement, a dominant with greater benthic ability excludes the subordinate at all levels of disturbance. (3) Given coexistence, increasing disturbance drives the dominant extinct first. (4) For a fixed level of disturbance, an “intermediate recruitment hypothesis” holds: at low settlement only the subordinate exists, at intermediate settlement there is coexistence, and at high se...
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