Importance Of Common Eiders In An Intertidal Community: Predation, Disturbance, And Indirect Effects
Intertidal community ecology is an extremely well developed field. However, sea ducks are frequently neglected in intertidal community studies, because they are viewed as transient or not sufficiently numerous to have an effect. This may be a mistake, because recent work with other aquatic birds indicates that they can be very important in structuring communities. We examined the importance of Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima) as predators in an intertidal invertebrate community in Passamaquoddy Bay, New Brunswick, Canada.