Succession of algal communities on the vertical substratum faces of breakwaters in Japan

Abstract Several successional phenomena of intertidal algal communities are described on the basis of our observations on the sides of breakwaters of different ages at Usujiri and Kamaya, near Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan. The species number reached its maximum within three years and the elevation of the communities seemed to approximate its maximum within two years. However, the climax phase, as characterized by a balance in the coverages of both annual and perennial species, seemed to appear after the communities were four or more years old at Usujiri and three or more years old at Kamaya.