Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026

The Benthic Exchange of O2, N2 and Dissolved Nutrients Using Small Core Incubations
Published on: August 3, 2016
Dispersal as a regional process affecting the local dynamics of marine and stream benthic invertebrates
M A Palmer1, J D Allan, C A Butman
1Margaret Palmer is at the Dept of Zoology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Abstract:
Recent work has shown that benthic invertebrate assemblages may be influenced in an ongoing fashion by dispersal. Water-column movements of meiofauna, juvenile insects and marine postlarvae are common and can act to alter greatly local dynamics such as predator-prey and competitive interactions in marine and stream ecosystems. These findings are important because past research on the role of dispersal in invertebrate dynamics has focused almost exclusively on how planktonic larval supply influences the establishment and maintenance of local assemblages, on the colonization of newly opened sites, or on the settlement success of new recruits. The emerging framework is that dispersal needs to be viewed as a regional process that may routinely influence local benthic dynamics, because fauna can move to and from water-column dispersal 'pools' and may do so at frequent intervals.
Related Concept Videos
Distribution and Dispersion
Speciation Rates
Formation of Species
Marine Microbial Ecology
Habitat Fragmentation
Ecological Disturbance

