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Long‐term Dynamics of Benthic Invertebrate Standing crop Palos Verdes Shelf, Southern California
Author(s) -
Maurer Don,
Haydock Irwin
Publication year - 1990
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.19900750209
Subject(s) - standing crop , crop , biomass (ecology) , benthic zone , environmental science , invertebrate , oceanography , geology , ecology , geography , forestry , biology
Wet weight standing crop of macrobenthic invertebrates from the Palos Verdes Shelf, California showed several major fluctuations from 1972 to 1986, mainly due to the bivalve Parvilucina tenuisculpta and the echiuroid Listriolobus pelodes. From 1972 to 1986 mean biomass was 285 g/m 2 . When this value was compared with standing crop from other shelves, Palos Verdesstanding crop fell within the range documented for the tropics to higher latitudes. There was a small decline with increased effects of El Nino in 1983. When Palos Verdes standing crop was compared to the biomass portion of the Pearson‐Rosenberg SAB curve, it was concluded that their model is probably not applicable on this portion of the shelf. Finally, the long‐term data base provided the opportunity to propose several hypotheses. These concerned the potential effect of L. pelodes on species diversity and hydrogen sulfide in the sediment and the influence of L. pelodes on excess standing crop.