Patterns of biodiversity in the macro-invertebrate fauna associated with mussel patches on rocky shores

Marine mussels are widely distributed and have been used extensively as environmental biomonitors. Communities associated with mussel patches have a high species richness but are typically dominated by a few very abundant species. These communities exhibit significant temporal and small-scale spatial variations in abundance and diversity which should be recognized when considering global patterns of marine biodiversity. Many of the species associated with tropical mussel beds are also represented by taxonomically and functionally equivalent species in mussel communities from temperate waters. The phenomenon of 'parallel communities' on rocky shores is thus apparently replicated on a finer spatial scale within mussel patches.