Title: Animal-sediment relationships in intertidal marine benthic habitats: Some determinants of deposit-feeding species diversity
Abstract: Particulate sedimentary properties were examined in a variety of New England intertidal habitats. The sediments were composed of a complex array of both food and non-food particle types. Little evidence of temporal or vertical spatial variation was observed in the major particulate fractions. Organic-mineral aggregates ("detritus"), however, exhibited significant seasonal change in abundance at the sediment-water interface, possibly being related to annual productivity-decay cycles of the marsh grass Spartina alterniflora. Both particulate and bulk sedimentary characteristics were related to deposit-feeding species diversity. Species richness was correlated with the amount of surficial sedimentary organic carbon, and species diversity with total particulate and food particulate diversity. Food abundance and variety, therefore, may regulate the organization of deposit-feeding assemblages. Standard methods for describing sediments may largely be inadequate for understanding many aspects of organism-sediment relationships in marine benthic environments.
Publication Year: 1981
Publication Date: 1981-06-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 145
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