Algal community succession in typhoon-damaged phytocenosis of Stephanocystis crassipes in Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan

The algal cover on the typhoon-devastated substrate in Sobol Bay recovered according to the successional pattern, which usually proceeds in three phases: the bacterial-diatom phase, the phase of alternating communities of opportunistic species, and the structured late successional community. We observed the first two phases. A few days after the storm, a diatom cover began to develop, with projective cover reaching 100% after 16 days. Naviculoid diatoms and species of the genus Licmophora dominated during this phase. One month after the devastation, the first macroalgal germlings appeared, indicating the beginning of the second phase, during which the change of algal communities was determined by seasonal reproduction and vegetation patterns. During the first three years, the substrate was dominated by seasonal and annual algae. In the fourth year, late-successional species entered the dominant category. Compared to other regions of the Northwest Pacific, the development of the algal cover in Sobol Bay was characterized by a longer duration of the second phase (not less than four years) and a greater number of changing seasonal communities in it (not less than five).

macrophytobenthos, substrate colonization, physical destruction of communities, community restoration