Impact of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake on the species diversity of rocky intertidal sessile assemblages

The impacts of large-scale disturbance events on the species diversity of rocky intertidal sessile assemblages across multiple spatial scales are not well understood. To evaluate the influence of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake on alpha and beta diversities of rocky intertidal sessile assemblages, we surveyed sessile assemblages in the mid-shore zone from 2011 to 2019 and compared the data with those collected from 2003 to 2010 before the earthquake at the same region. The census was conducted across 22 study plots on five rocky shores along 30 km of the Sanriku Coast of Japan, which is located 150-160 km north-northwest of the earthquake epicenter. Alpha diversity was measured with three Hill numbers (<i>H</i> ₀, <i>H</i> ₁, and <i>H</i> ₂), which represent the number of equally common species that would exist in a community with the same diversity as the sampled community, with higher values of the subscript indicating more weight placed on abundant species. Beta diversity was measured with two metrics (<i>BD</i> _total at two spatial scales). Values were compared between the post-earthquake period (2011-2019) and the pre-earthquake period (2003-2010). The results show that the Tohoku Earthquake significantly altered the species diversity of intertidal sessile assemblages across multiple spatial scales. All diversity metrics obtained at multiple spatial scales (i.e., alpha diversities: <i>H</i> ₀, <i>H</i> ₁, and <i>H</i> ₂; beta diversities: <i>BD</i> _<i>t</i>otal at the shore and regional scales) decreased immediately after the earthquake and then increased in subsequent years. At 2 years after the earthquake, <i>H</i> ₀ recovered to within the range of pre-earthquake values and <i>H</i> ₁ and <i>H</i> ₂ became significantly higher than pre-earthquake values. Most metrics of alpha and beta diversities recovered to pre-earthquake levels after several years, but regional <i>BD</i> _total remained low for a longer period.