A re-evaluation of marine nematode productivity
Vranken, G.; Herman, P.M.J.; Vincx, M.; Heip, C.H.R. (1986). A re-evaluation of marine nematode productivity. Hydrobiologia 135: 193-196 In: Hydrobiologia. Springer: The Hague. ISSN 0018-8158; e-ISSN 1573-5117, more Related to:Vranken, G.; Herman, P.M.J.; Vincx, M.; Heip, C.H.R. (1986). A re-evaluation of marine nematode productivity, in: Heip, C.H.R. et al. (Ed.) Ecology, ecotoxicology and systematics of marine benthos. pp. 1-6, more Vranken, G.; Herman, P.M.J.; Vincx, M.; Heip, C.H.R. (1988). A re-evaluation of marine nematode productivity, in: Heip, C.H.R. et al. (Ed.) Collected papers on meiofauna dynamics and energy flow. pp. 1-4, more |  |
| Keywords | Aquatic communities > Benthos > Meiobenthos
Biological production
Models > Mathematical models
Nematoda [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal | | Author keywords | nematodes, meiobenthos, production, P/B, generation time |
| Authors | | Top | - Vranken, G.
- Herman, P.M.J., more
- Vincx, M., more
- Heip, C.H.R., more
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| Abstract | Nematodes are the most abundant multicellular animals in marine sediments but their role in the benthos has not been properly quantified yet. In nearly all energy-flow budgets of marine systems their annual production P is given as about nine times their biomass B and their part in the total energy-flow is consequently estimated as anywhere between 3 and 30% of the total (carbon) input in the benthic system. Our laboratory experiments demonstrate that nematode productivity is much higher than P/B ~ 9 per year and may reach values of over 60 for bacterial grazers. To obtain more reliable estimates for field populations we propose a regression equation relating egg-to-egg development time Tmin to temperature (t) and adult female weight (W in µg wet weight):log Tmin = 2.202-0.0461 t + 0.627 log W. When multiplied by the constant biomass turnover per generation (P/B)gen = 3, development rate 1/Tmin is a good predictor of daily P/B. This method was applied to two series of field data. A rather stable community from a sublittoral mud in the North Sea had an annual P/B = 20. A less stable Aufwuchs community from Sargassum in Japan had an annual P/B = 58. |
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