Resistance of rocky intertidal communities to oceanic climate fluctuations

[116]. In fact, climate-driven high recruitment may simply transfer biomass to the top trophic levels, since these sites have high whelk and sea star densities [117,118]. Thus, predators may mute community sensitivity to climate fluctuations by transferring excess prey biomass to higher growth and reproductive output, as found for whelks by Navarrete et al. [116] and sea stars by Menge et al. [119]. Fig 11. Linear correlations of taxon diversity (Shannon-Weiner index ± SE) with significant environmental drivers (identified by models in Table 4) in Oregon and northern California from 2006–2020. Zones included the a-b) high, c-e) mid, and f-i) low zones (yellow, green and blue, respectively). Environmental drivers included a) Pacific Decadal Oscillation (mean PDO), b) the maximum daily air temperature by site (Max Air Temp), c & f) North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (mean NPGO), d) Multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation Index (mean ENSO), e & i) the years since the initial sea star wasting disease outbreak (Yrs since SSWD), g) Biologically Effective Upwelling Transport Index (mean BEUTI), and h) the mean daily water temperature by site (Mean SST). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297697.g011 PLOS ONE Resistance of rocky intertidal communities PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297697 May 29, 2024 24 / 34