A 1-year study, using six 10 m2 drop nets at monthly stations, was conducted on the seagrass and drift algae-associated macrocrustaceans (primarily Decapoda) in the Indian River lagoon on the central eastern Florida coast. The macrocrustacean community consisted of 38 species, in 28 genera and 17 families, the majority of which were caridean (grass) shrimp and brachyuran crabs. Two caridean shrimp, a pagurid crab, and a penaeid shrimp were numerically dominant species which, together with 10 less numerous species, were considered to be characteristic representatives of the macrocrustacean community. Both a species-area and individuals-area relationship were demonstrated using a combinatorial statistical method, and a modification of the Fisher species-individuals relationship. The community as a whole responded in numbers of individuals, and in total crustacean biomass, to increases in seagrass and drift algae (as plant biomass g−1 m−2). Macrocrustacean community diversity appeared to be regulated by above-ground plant abundance, and is thus a function of habitat complexity. The consistency of decapod species composition indicated that the community is both predictable and resilient, with resultant stability due, in some measure, to habitat diversity produced by the periodic trimonthly increases in drift algae abundances. Competitive exclusion may be more important than predation on this seagrass bed in regulating the within-habitat diversity of the macrocrustacean community.