Abstract

On February 27th 2010, a mega-earthquake struck Chile causing coastal coseismic uplift. In this study we compared the invertebrate fauna from uplifted (UH) and non-uplifted (NH) Lessonia spicata kelp holdfasts. Multivariate analysis of the assemblage structure revealed different faunal composition between holdfasts, the anemone Phymactis clematis and the mussel Perumytilus purpuratus displayed the highest contribution to these differences, being most abundant in UH. A preference to inhabit in UH is most likely to be related to food availability and capacity to thrive with high salinity and desiccation, while NH became habitat for a rare primary ecological succession. The present study helps to understand ecological implications of such rare events.