Colonisation processes and the role of coralline algae in rocky shore community dynamics

• Temperate rocky shore communities respond to changes in the disturbance regime.
• We investigated key species’ strategies for space occupancy during recovery process.
• Overgrowth played more important role than lateral encroachment in space occupancy.
• A limited number of taxa drive the recovery of species richness.
• Coralline algae enhanced biodiversity by promoting settlement of later colonists.

Recovery from disturbance is an important attribute of community dynamics. Temperate rocky shores will experience increases in both the type and intensity of impacts under future expected global change. To gauge the community response to these potential changes in the disturbance regime it is important to assess space occupancy and the temporal dynamics of key species over the recovery process. We experimentally disturbed replicated 1 m2 plots in the lower intertidal at 5 sites along the Ligurian rocky coast (North-western Mediterranean) and assessed early succession processes over 18 months. To identify colonisation processes and role of key species in affecting species richness on recovery trajectories, we monitored species composition at the cm-scale along fixed transects within the plots. Our results highlighted the role of a limited number of taxa in driving the recovery of species richness across sites, despite site variation in community composition. Settlement of new propagules and overgrowth were the principal pathway of space occupancy. We detected an important role for coralline algae, particularly the articulated Corallina elongata, in promoting the colonisation of a diverse range of colonists. The present study highlights the important role played by calcifying coralline macroalgae as substrate providers for later colonists, favouring recovery of biodiversity after disturbance. This pivotal role may be compromised in a future scenario of elevated cumulative disturbance, where ocean acidification will likely depress the role of coralline algae in recovery, leading to a general loss in biodiversity and community complexity.