Paper Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Paper Critique - Essay Example Since Chondrus crispus is dominant in the low tidal zone, Lubchenco looked at the effect of Chondrus crispus on the lower limit of F. vesiculosus and F. distichus zone: Chondrus crispus was removed from a section of the lower tidal zone at each site, and recolonization of the section was monitored regularly. (This involved either scrapping the erect part of Chondrus crispus off the rocks to mimic natural removal of Chondrus thallus during a winter storm, or removing even the Chondrus crust to mimic the rarely occurring complete Chondrus destruction by limpet grazing or ice scouring). I believe that in such a complex system as a natural ecosystem, it is hard to point to a single factor (biotic or abiotic) as the main determinant of a species specialization to a particular environment. In my opinion the author performed this part of the study in a rather biased way and looked solely at the effect of Chondrus crispus on the lower limits of fucoid species zone. I would suggest locating other environments with the same zonation pattern and comparing them to identify the range of parameters that are common among them. Another option might be examining the effect of the best three candidate biotic and abiotic factors in laboratory simulation conditions and looking whether these influence significantly the Fucus capacity to colonize the low tidal zone. 4. The author succeeded partially in answering and discussing the questions posed in the study. Her data confirmed that biotic factors do play a role in zonation pattern formation, along with previously identified abiotic factors. These data also demonstrated that inter-species competition and herbivory are the two biotic factors affecting species zonation patterns, with competition determining species survival, and herbivory affecting species abundance. Lubchenco discussed extensively the niche width-related question and concluded that this is