In Lubchenko's published paper, her experiments concluded that the L. littorea's was the organism that suppressed the growth of ephemerals such as Enteromorpha, which allowed the growth and dominance of Chondrus crispus in a tide pool.  My reproduction seems to have the same effects as Lubchenko's experiment, except for the unexpected reintroduction of L. littorea's in tide pool B.

       This observable competition between the algal species conveys the importance of interraction, especially competition.  Competition can, however, only occur where organisms share a resource and the resource is in short supply (Bertness, Gaines, Hay).  That limiting factor in the intertidal zone is obvious, space. 

            Competition for space in the intertidal zone is important because it is the one thing that can claim survival for an organism.  Food is somewhat abundant in the intertidal zone.  Some organisms still compete for food but the major limiting factor is space.

        My hypothesis was correct in assuming that competition increased species richness.  The feeding habits of L. littorea freed up some limited space, therefore allowing C. crispus to grow.  Competition, here, allowed the growth for other algae that would otherwise not grow due to its incapability to claim dominance over ephemerals.  Here the highest species diversity of algae occurs at intermediate Littorina densities (Bertness, 37). 

          Though competition can lead to an increase in species richness it can also decrease species richness.  To further learn and help to increase species richness in the intertidal zone we would need to find out how competition can cause those to decrease.  In addition to learning how competition can decrease species richness, we also need to learn how and what other species interactions that occur to help increase species diversity.