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Dynamics of Spatial Pattern for the Gastrotrich Tetranchyroderma bunti in the Surface Sand of High Energy Beaches
Author(s) -
Nixon David E.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
internationale revue der gesamten hydrobiologie und hydrographie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1522-2632
pISSN - 0020-9309
DOI - 10.1002/iroh.19760610208
Subject(s) - intertidal zone , spatial distribution , common spatial pattern , shore , spatial ecology , population , geology , abundance (ecology) , hydrology (agriculture) , ecology , oceanography , physical geography , geography , biology , geotechnical engineering , remote sensing , demography , sociology
This paper is a quantitative study of the spatial pattern of the intertidal gastrotrich. Tetranchyroderma bunti , and its migration pattern during a tidal cycle on three high energy beaches of Bogue Banks, North Carolina, USA. Included in the study were the macrodistribution and micro‐distribution. T. bunti is gregarious and forms a clumped spatial pattern in the sand. The four clump sizes found were 2.2, 3.3, 4.4, and 5.5 cm with a ratio of 9: 6: 4: 1, respectively. The spatial pattern of these clumps suggests that the general spatial pattern of the population in its most dense area is aggregated clumped. Field experiments show that this is a stable pattern during at least part of the low tide period, and laboratory experiments suggest that the low water content of the sand at low tide contributes to this stability by decreasing the movement of the gastrotrichs. A significant difference (p<0.05) was found in the density of the gastrotrichs parallel to the shore line, but part of this difference was due to local shifts in the spatial pattern of the population instead of a change in the longshore abundance. T. bunti showed a tidal migration pattern opposite to that of the ground water movement.