Biological Bulldozers and the Evolution of Marine Benthic Communities

Thayer, Charles W.

doi:10.1126/science.203.4379.458

Cited by 270 publications

(139 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…g . Thayer 1979, Yingst & Rhoads 1980, Hammond 1981 may have an indirect influence on the distribution of subsurface-feeding species by altering the geochemical characteristics of the sediments. Additionally, biogenic reworking of sediments by burrowers and tube irrigation by tube dwellers enhance the exchange of solutes between the water column and pore water (Rhoads et al 1978, McCaffrey et al 1980.…”

Section: Inner Shelfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benthic Polychaeta of the Middle Atlantic Bight: feeding and distribution

Gaston¹

1987

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

101

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Data on feeding biology was used to investigate distribution patterns of benthic polychaetes of the Middle Atlantic Bight off the United States East Coast. Feeding biology classifications used in the analyses were based on (1) gut-contents analyses of polychaetes collected in the study area; and (2) recent publications regardmg polychaete feeding. Proportion of carnivorous polychaetes was greatest in coarser sedlments, and decreased significantly with water depth across the continental shelf. Surface-deposit feeders numerically dominated most habitats. Abundance of surface-deposit feeders decreased across the continental shelf and sharply increased at the shelf break, paralleling the pattern of water-column production. Proportion of subsurface-deposit feeders was greatest in finesedlrnent habitats, and increased significantly with depth and percent organic carbon across the continental shelf. Sessile polychaetes generally inhabited physically stable habitats. Proportion of sessile polychaetes was positively correlated with percent silt and clay and percent organic carbon.Feeding and motility categories were generally more useful in distinguishing habitats than were morphology categories. Apparently, distribution and abundance of surface-deposit feeders were regulated by food resources from water-column production, and distnbution of sessile polychaetes was limited primarily by physical disturbance.

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Section: Inner Shelfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benthic Polychaeta of the Middle Atlantic Bight: feeding and distribution

Gaston¹

1987

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

101

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“…Burrowers are ecosystem engineers that modify their physical and chemical environments (Jones et al, 1997). Evidence of burrowing first appears in the fossil record near the end of the Precambrian, and the disruption of stable, microbial mat-dominated sediments by early burrowers likely contributed to the subsequent decrease in sessile invertebrates in soft sediments and the diversification of burrowing animals (Meysman et al, 2006;Thayer, 1979). Bioturbation of marine sediments alters geochemical gradients and consequently microbial communities and activities, increases nutrient regeneration, and gates the burial of organic carbon and pollutants in sediments (Meysman et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The biomechanics of burrowing and boring

Dorgan

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

135

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Burrowers and borers are ecosystem engineers that alter their physical environments through bioturbation, bioirrigation and bioerosion. The mechanisms of moving through solid substrata by burrowing or boring depend on the mechanical properties of the medium and the size and morphology of the organism. For burrowing animals, mud differs mechanically from sand; in mud, sediment grains are suspended in an organic matrix that fails by fracture. Macrofauna extend burrows through this elastic mud by fracture. Sand is granular and non-cohesive, enabling grains to more easily move relative to each other, and macrofaunal burrowers use fluidization or plastic rearrangement of grains. In both sand and mud, peristaltic movements apply normal forces and reduce shear. Excavation and localized grain compaction are mechanisms that plastically deform sediments and are effective in both mud and sand, with bulk excavation being used by larger organisms and localized compaction by smaller organisms. Mechanical boring of hard substrata is an extreme form of excavation in which no compaction of burrow walls occurs and grains are abraded with rigid, hard structures. Chemical boring involves secretion to dissolve or soften generally carbonate substrata. Despite substantial differences in the mechanics of the media, similar burrowing behaviors are effective in mud and sand.

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“…Lastly, many biological processes (includmg predation, bioturbatlon and bioerosion) have been shown to have increased in intensity over geological time, in particular during and since the Mesozoic (Vermeij 1978, Thayer 1979, Palmer 1982. If a correlation between bioerosion and the size and number of cryptic reef organisms can be demonstrated, then ~t follows that the substantial increase in available habitat due to the proliferation may have allowed radical increases in the diversity of this important cryptic reef biota dunng the Mesozoic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioerosion and availability of shelter for benthic reef organisms

Moran¹,

Reaka²

1988

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Bioerosion was examined in 5 different reef habitats on the northeast of St Croix, USVI, and the hypothesis tested that cavities provided by borers govern the numbers and body sizes of an important motile cryptobiont, stomatopod crustaceans Bioeroders excavated significant percentages of material from beachrock or dead coral substrates In the intertidal zone (0 m), fringing reef (-1 m), lagoonal patch reef (-3 m), and the back reef (-3 m) and fore reef (-12 m) of the offshore barrier reef. Mean volumes removed were 8.4 to 18.3 % among habitats (range 0.1 to 32.9 % for individual rocks). Overall bioerosion was not correlated with depth, and was greatest on the patch reef. Results confirm that bioerosion is more intensive in Caribbean than western Pacific waters, and are consistent with the hypothesis that primary productivity governs the biogeographic impact of bioeroders. Average hole sizes were largest in the intertidal and on the fringing reef. Total numbers of cavities appropriate for stomatopods were greatest on the patch reef, intermedate on the fore, back and fringing reefs, and least in the intertidal. Stomatopod body sizes were largest in the intertidal and declined toward the offshore reef, congruent with the sizes of holes in these habitats. Also, the interbdal zone was inhabited by significantly fewer stomatopods than the fringing, patch and back reefs. There was no tendency, however, towards unusually high densities in the particularly abundant small holes of the patch reef. We conclude that sizes and to a lesser extent numbers of stomatopods are generally correlated with sizes and numbers of cavities available, although other factors (predation in subtidal habitats, storms in shallow habitats) sometimes influence population characteristics (especially densities). Consequently, the sizes of cavities available likely limit the body sizes of reef stomatopods, in contrast to those that excavate enlargeable burrows in soft bottoms, and biogeographic trends in their body sizes may be z t t~b~t a b l c to :he sizes sf cavtties p~u v i d e d by bioeroders. The sessile and particularly the motile cryptofauna represents an understudied but critically important component of the coral reef community, and boring organisms are prerequisite for its development. Fast and efficient predators evolved in the Mesozoic concurrently with scleractinian corals, large carbonate reefs and bioeroding organisms. We suggest that boring habits protected early bioeroders from predators and provided crypts, into which radiated a vast assemblage of benthic reef biota. This crytofauna was in turn molded by predation and thence competition for refuges. Thus, predation likely exerted a cascading effect upon the diversity and structure of coral reef communities via bioerosion and the availabhty of shelter for b e n b c reef organisms.

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Biological Bulldozers and the Evolution of Marine Benthic Communities

Cited by 270 publications

References 39 publications

Benthic Polychaeta of the Middle Atlantic Bight: feeding and distribution

Benthic Polychaeta of the Middle Atlantic Bight: feeding and distribution

The biomechanics of burrowing and boring

Bioerosion and availability of shelter for benthic reef organisms

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