The stability of a limpet-dominated community was
assessed in a experiment in which an consumer was
temporarily removed. Compared to unmanipulated plots,
the limpet-exclusion plots developed greater algal
abundance and altered species composition of both algae
and barnacles. The community was not perturbed beyond
its capacity to recover, since the community structure of
the limpet-removal plots converged on the structure of
the unmanipulated plots after limpet reintroduction.
Different components of the community recovered at
different rates, depending on whether a species had a
size-related escape from limpets. The length of the
limpet-removal period did not affect community recovery.
The mechanisms of succession were investigated in a
community dominated by the barnacle Balanus glandula and
the alga Pelvetiopsis limitata. Competition for space
with Balanus excluded the barnacle, Chthamalus dalli, as
succession proceeded. Chthamalus did not affect Balanus.
Algal colonization was strongly facilitated by Balanus,
but not Chthamalus. Algal recruitment to epoxy-filled
barnacle tests indicated that facilitation resulted from
barnacle tests altering the substrate, not from the
activities of the living animal. Manipulations of
barnacle and herbivore abundances demonstrated that
facilitation was an mediated by limpets. Consumers
decreased the rate of succession, supporting a model of
how consumers affect the rate of succession as a function
of both the model of succession and the successional
status of the species consumed. Both gap size and
position within a gap influenced algal cover, limpet
density and species composition, but not total barnacle
cover or the density and species composition of algal
recruits. The results supported the prediction that the
effects on succession of increasing gap size are similar
to the effects of moving towards the center of a gap
