Ecological Dynamics of Marine Benthic Communities

Marine benthic communities comprise the diverse assemblages of organisms that live on or within the seabed, ranging from microscopic bacteria and diatoms to macrofauna such as molluscs, crustaceans and sessile invertebrates. These communities play a central role in nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration and food‐web dynamics, while providing habitat structure that supports higher trophic levels. Their composition and function are governed by a complex interplay of abiotic drivers—including substrate type, hydrodynamics, temperature and nutrient availability—and biotic interactions such as competition, predation, mutualism and facilitation. Successional processes following disturbance or substrate colonisation further shape community trajectories, with early colonisers often influencing the settlement and survival of later arrivals through priority effects. Global changes—such as ocean warming, acidification and anthropogenic modification of coastlines—are altering benthic habitats at unprecedented rates, with implications for biodiversity, invasive species spread and ecosystem services. Integrative approaches that combine field experiments, in situ manipulations, molecular tools and modelling are essential to unravel the mechanisms underpinning benthic dynamics and to inform conservation, restoration and resource management strategies.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent transcriptomic analyses have revealed how benthic invertebrates adjust gene expression to cope with simultaneous shifts in temperature and salinity. By comparing native and introduced shrimp species under controlled estuarine simulations, researchers uncovered distinct molecular pathways underlying resilience in fluctuating environments. This work elucidates the mechanisms by which physiological plasticity shapes species’ tolerance thresholds, providing a molecular basis for predicting shifts in community composition under acute thermal and osmotic stress.

Ecological Dynamics of Marine Benthic Communities publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in ecological dynamics of marine benthic communities across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Benthic community: Assemblage of organisms living on or in the seabed.

Biotic resistance: Ability of an existing community to repel invasive species through interactions such as predation or competition.

Priority effects: Influence of early-arriving species on the structure and composition of later successional stages.

Succession: Sequential change in community composition and structure over time following disturbance or substrate availability.

Physiological plasticity: Capacity of an organism to adjust its physiology or gene expression in response to environmental change.

References

1. Transcriptomic response to thermal and salinity stress in introduced and native sympatric Palaemon caridean shrimps. Scientific Reports (2017).
2. Squidpops: A Simple Tool to Crowdsource a Global Map of Marine Predation Intensity. PLOS ONE (2015).
3. Calcareous defence structures of prey mediate the effects of predation and biotic resistance towards the tropics. Diversity and Distributions (2020).
4. Persistence and space preemption explain species‐specific founder effects on the organization of marine sessile communities. Ecology and Evolution (2018).
5. Habitat type drives the distribution of non‐indigenous species in fouling communities regardless of associated maritime traffic. Diversity and Distributions (2019).