在諸多海洋生態系中，珊瑚礁生態系有高的物種多樣性，而在許多解釋海洋生物多樣性的理論，如中度干擾假說、資源假說與彩票假說等等，卻未曾將季節性入添這項因子作為影響的條件之ㄧ。但是在季節性擾動後產生的新空間，與之後進入的新生物入添，卻可能決定該地點未來演替方向，以及將來的生物組成。在此我們提出季節性入添假說(SRH)，希望可以用來解釋季節性的入添對於珊瑚礁生物多樣性的影響性。在本假說中要驗證幾點：(1) 擾動後的生物入添是否因季節而異？ (2) 不同季節的入添群聚，是否會形成離散性演替,而群聚之間差異日益擴大？ (3) 珊瑚礁生態系的高生物多樣性，是否是由不同季節產生的不同區塊逐漸累積出來的？
本研究以附苗板代表擾動後產生的新空間，在墾丁珊瑚礁區域進行放置附苗板的實驗，附苗板在海中放置兩個月與近兩年的時間，將附苗板收回後計算其生物量與覆蓋度，並用Primer比較不同附苗板的群聚組成相似性，前後共進行了三年的野外實驗。實驗結果發現到各類群生物的入添量也不完全呈現出季節性的變化，另外以MDS比較群聚組成的差異，顯示入添群聚在不同年與不同月份採樣間均有差異，但是並沒有季節性的重複，而且群聚組成的差異會隨著時間演替而讓群聚變得相近，因此不支持我們的假說預測。

Coral reefs have high biodiversity among the many marine ecosystems. Many hypotheses explain marine biodiversity, e.g., the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, the Lottery hypothesis and the Resource Allocation Hypothesis, but there is no mention of the possible role of seasonal effects. Here, we propose the Seasonal Recruitment Hypothesis to explain the possible role of seasonal recruitment and succession in a disturbed ecosystem. In this investigation, we tested several prediction of the hypothesis: a. Does recruitment have seasonal variation? b. Does variable recruiting communities diverge in succession? c. Are high biodiversities of coral reefs contributed by different communities originating from patches created in different seasons?
In this study, we used plastic plates as proxy of empty space generated after disturbance to survey the seasonal patterns of settling benthos. Recruitment plates were placed and retrieved at two-month intervals for two consecutive years. Then, the composition and densities of settled taxa were estimated. The PRIMER software was used to compare the community similarities. We looked for possible seasonal patterns in each benthic populations but found few not real examples of such. Although there is difference between communities started in different seasons, no cyclic pattern in similarity was found by MDS plots in two years of recruitment communities. There are variations of recruitment community between different year and month, and the community structures converged after succession. These results do not support the prediction of the Seasoanl Recruitment Hypothesis.

章次 頁數
壹、前言…………………………1
貳、實驗材料與方法……………6
參、結果…………………………9
肆、討論…………………………15
參考文獻…………………………21

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