unique to the Florida-Bahama plat- 

 form environment (Rose and Lidz 

 1977). In general, foram species 

 associations can be delinated based 

 on topographic variations such as 

 basins, mud banks, and shorelines. 



Thirty-two (32) species of 

 crustaceans are reported by Tabb 

 et al. (1962) from three environ- 

 ments in northwest Florida Bay. The 

 intertidal environment is character- 

 ized by the fiddler crabs Uca sp., 

 the isopod Liqia boudiniana , and the 

 barnacle Balanus amphitrite niveus . 

 In all, 10 species were recorded 

 from this environment. Of the 18 

 crustaceans reported from the turtle 

 grass environment, at least 3 were 

 also collected on the hard shell and 

 sand bottoms. Among the more note- 

 worthy species were the hermit crabs 

 Paqurid sp., the stone crab Menippe 

 mercenaria , and the pink shrimp 

 Penaeus duorarum . 



As a consequence of a unique 

 experiment in island biogeography, 

 much has been learned of the insects 

 of Florida Bay mangrove islands 

 (Simberloff 1969, 1972, 1974, 1976; 

 Simberloff and Wilson 1969, Wilson 

 and Simberloff 1969). Several small 

 islands were defaunated by fumigat- 

 ing with methyl bromide (Wilson and 

 Simberloff 1969), thus killing (and 

 allowing for easy censusing of most 

 of) the insect fauna. Subsequent 

 recolonization of the islands by 

 insects was monitored for several 

 years. 



One particularly interesting 

 observation was on the composition 

 of the intertidal habitats. The 



intermittently submerged mud banks 

 surrounding the island support a 

 rather unique mixture of inverte- 

 brates that have little interaction 

 with the island community other than 

 through a few generalists such as 

 the earwig Labidura riparia , the 

 mangrove tree crab Aratus pisonii , 



and possibly the tree snail Littori- 

 na anqulifera . The insect and other 

 inhabitants of the often exposed mud 

 banks are primarily marine, living 

 off of seaweed, detritus, and each 

 other. 



Based on pre and post fumiga- 

 tion censuses, Simerloff describes 

 the composition of the arboreal 

 insect fauna of these islands as 

 being in a state of dynamic equili- 

 brium. This equilibrium is largely 

 a function of physical factors such 

 as distance from the mainland, and 

 island size (Simberloff 1976). 

 Colonization of islands by wasps, 

 spiders, and psocopterans (Corro- 

 dentia) occurs fairly soon after 

 defaunation (depending on distance 

 and size) but is generally quite 

 variable. This group tends to 



arrive early and extinguish fairly 

 rapidly, although some wasps and 

 spiders persist for many months. 

 Ants, thrips, and lepidopterans, on 

 the other hand, exhibit a relatively 

 more ordered colonization scheme. 

 Rather predictably, thrips tend to 

 invade 4 to 5 months after defauna- 

 tion and persist for extended peri- 

 ods, while the lepidopterans and 

 ants are even more systematic. 

 Invasions of species of the latter 

 two groups often follow a rather 

 distinctive successional pattern. 

 The ants are considered numerically 

 and energetically the dominant 

 animals on the mangrove islands. 



In all, 351 species of insects 

 have been recorded from these man- 

 grove islands (Simberloff 1976); the 

 same author estimates that as many 

 as 500 species commonly inhabit the 

 larger Florida Keys with as many as 

 4,000+ species in all the Keys. 



8.33 FISHES 



Zieman (1982) divides the fish- 

 es utilizing seagrasses into three 

 categories: permanent residents. 



170 



