Experimental sediment disturbances on a tidal flat: Responses of free-living Platyhelminthes and small Polychaeta
Reise, K. (1984). Experimental sediment disturbances on a tidal flat: Responses of free-living Platyhelminthes and small Polychaeta, in: Heip, C.H.R. (Ed.) Biology of Meiofauna. Proceedings of the Fifth International Meiofauna Conference, held in Ghent, Belgium 16-20 August 1983. Developments in Hydrobiology, 26: pp. 73-81 In: Heip, C.H.R. (Ed.) (1984). Biology of Meiofauna: Proceedings of the Fifth International Meiofauna Conference, held in Ghent, Belgium 16-20 August 1983. Developments in Hydrobiology, 26. Dr. W. Junk Publishers: Dordrecht. ISBN 978-9061935131. IX, 133 pp., more In: Dumont, H.J. (Ed.) Developments in Hydrobiology. Kluwer Academic/Springer: The Hague; London; Boston; Dordrecht. ISSN 0167-8418, more |
| Keywords | Ecosystem disturbance
Ecosystem resilience
Environments > Aquatic environment > Marine environment > Intertidal environment
Population characteristics > Population density
Sediments
Platyhelminthes [WoRMS]; Polychaeta [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal |
| Abstract | Small-scale sediment disturbances on a sandy tidal flat in the North Sea changed the pattern of abundances in free-living platyhelminths (Turbellaria) and small Polychaeta, but not the species composition. Patches of 0.25 m2 were made anoxic, were regularly raked at the surface, or the upper layer of sediment was inverted. Recolonization after temporary anoxia proceeded very slowly. Raking caused diatom-feeding platyhelminths and the polychaetes to emigrate. Turning the upper 5 cm of the sediment upside down was harmful to both taxa, but platyhelminths recolonized quickly. Background densities were temporarily surpassed, first by predators, then by diatom feeders. Coherent responses of trophic guilds in platyhelminths do not suggest that release from competition is involved but indicate that such disturbances alter the availability of food resources and the organisms immigrate accordingly. |
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