| The resistance to perturbations of reef-dwelling gastropod assemblages was studied on the seaward reefs of Fangataufa atoll (French Polynesia) after their exposure to atmospheric nuclear tests, a major man-made perturbation. We focused on two important aspects: (1) the temporal evolution of the densities of the most important species before and after the tests, and (2) the temporal evolution of the spatial structure of the assemblages. Three transects, crossing several geomorphological zones, were established on the seaward reefs of the atoll. Each transect was sampled at irregular time intervals during a twenty-year period. Several univariate and multivariate methods were used to study (1) the temporal fluctuations in species abundances and ranks, and (2)... |
