Life Between Tide-Marks in North America: IIIA. Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island: Description of the Region

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Abstract
Account of the distr. of algae and animals on rocky shores between tide-marks at various localities round Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The cold-temperate population of this region is very distinct from the tropical and ward-temperate populations found farther south on the American Atlantic coast and descr. in Parts I and II of this series. The zonation between tide-marks shows marked variations in accordance with equally marked differences in the environment. On the open Atlantic coast a normal supralittoral fringe is seen, with the usual blackening and Littorina population; this is followed by a normal mid-littoral zone with a strong population of barnacles and Fucoids, and showing a subdivision into 3 subzones; and the infralittoral fringe is represented by a strongly developed Laminarian zone. At the other extreme, seen along the n. coast of Prince Edward Island, where strong ice action working on soft sandstone causes abnormalities, the supralittoral fringe alone is normal, and the midlittoral has become very bare by the deduction of most of its barnacles and Fucoids, as well as of other forms. The Laminarian zone has been replaced by a shorter growth of annual algae dominated by Chordaria. In other situations other variations are seen, but everywhere the universal zones are recognisable and the variations can be accounted for in terms of environmental features.