Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 6 February 1987:
Vol. 235. no. 4789, pp. 687 - 689
DOI: 10.1126/science.235.4789.687
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Diadema antillarum Was Not a Keystone Predator in Cryptic Reef Environments

JEREMY B. C. JACKSON 1 and KARL W. KAUFMANN 2

1 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama.
2 Department of Invertebrates, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024.

The ecological impact of the disappearance of a major predator depends on the responsiveness of the prey. Mass mortality of the most abundant grazer in Caribbean cryptic reef environments, the sea urchin Diadema antilarum, selectively decreased rates of mortality of encrusting organisms by half, yet community composition hardly changed because alternative species failed to become established.

Submitted on July 7, 1986
Accepted on November 25, 1986

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)