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THE EFFECTS OF THE DEPOSIT FEEDING POLYCHAETE PECTINARIA GOULDII ON THE INTERTIDAL SEDIMENTS OF BARNSTABLE HARBOR 1
Author(s) -
Gordon Donald C.
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1966.11.3.0327
Subject(s) - polychaete , intertidal zone , sediment , organic matter , population , oceanography , environmental science , benthos , bioturbation , ecology , geology , benthic zone , biology , geomorphology , demography , sociology
Under laboratory conditions, individual Pectinaria gouldii worked 6 g of sediment/day. This rate was related directly to sediment temperature and inversely to sediment pigment concentration. At this rate, corrected for the effects of daily tidal exposure and annual temperature fluctuations, the worm population in the flat studied (10 worms/m 2 ) would completely work all sediment in the 6‐cm thick surface layer every 15 years. The observed activity of other deposit feeders would substantially reduce this time. P. gouldii removed 3.55 units of sediment pigment (42%) and 1.43 mg of organic carbon (45%) from each gram of sediment worked, suggesting a rapid utilization of the available organic matter.