Sediment-Mediated Biological Disturbance and the Evolution of Marine Benthos

Thayer, Charles W.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-0740-3_11

Cited by 253 publications

(217 citation statements)

References 296 publications

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“…However, unlike Brissopsis lyrifera, Aphrodita aculeata, Nephtys caeca and Amphiura chiajei, which all operate in the upper 10 cm, C. macandreae lives within a burrow and generally operates much deeper, so any organic material that is supplied to the sediment surface will not be actively mixed into this layer as it is with the other bioturbators. From the current study it would appear that bioturbation associated with burrow formation is less important for maintaining diversity than the bioturbation of 'bulldozing' species, a conclusion also reached by Thayer (1983) who stated that 'biological bulldozing is the most effective form of bioturbation'.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Importance of bioturbators for biodiversity maintenance: indirect effects of fishing disturbance

Widdicombe¹,

Austen²,

Kendall³

et al. 2004

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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The relative impact on macrofaunal diversity of 7 naturally co-occurring bioturbators has been examined in a benthic mesocosm experiment. The bioturbators chosen were selected because of their potential vulnerability to the disturbances associated with demersal trawling. The experiment was conducted at the Solbergstrand mesocosm (Norwegian Institute for Water Research) using subtidal sediment collected from Bjørnehodebukta, a small sheltered bay in the Oslofjord. For 3 of the bioturbating species (Brissopsis lyrifera, Aphrodita aculeata and Amphiura chiajei) a positive, linear relationship was demonstrated between bioturbator abundance and measures of species richness (number of species and Margalef species richness). It was suggested that the presence of these bioturbating species increased oxygen penetration into the sediment, leading to an enhancement in the ability of benthic systems to process organic material. This had a beneficial effect on the associated fauna in terms of maintaining levels of diversity. For Nephtys caeca, highest species diversity was seen in the low abundance treatments. Predation by N. caeca on small polychaetes is proposed as a possible explanation of the lower diversity in high-density treatments. It is concluded that B. lyrifera, A. aculeata, A. chiajei and N. caeca are functionally similar with respect to setting the diversity of the associated macrobenthic community and may therefore fulfill the same role within the benthic ecosystem. The presence of Calocaris macandreae, Nuculana minuta and Astarte sulcata had no detectable effect on diversity. Trawling has been shown to reduce the abundance of bioturbating species, and the current study demonstrates important implications of this loss on the maintenance of diversity. In addition, the interactions between bioturbation, diversity and organic enrichment highlight the need for management of anthropogenic impacts within the coastal environment in a holistic way rather than by isolation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Importance of bioturbators for biodiversity maintenance: indirect effects of fishing disturbance

Widdicombe¹,

Austen²,

Kendall³

et al. 2004

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…If so, however, this increased biomass did not translate into elevated diversity. Increased predation and seafloor disturbance may have helped drive down the diversity and abundance of some taxa, such as brachiopods (67)(68)(69), although competition may also have been important (70), consistent with diversity dependence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Sex and the shifting biodiversity dynamics of marine animals in deep time

Bush

Hunt

Bambach

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The fossil record of marine animals suggests that diversity-dependent processes exerted strong control on biodiversification: after the Ordovician Radiation, genus richness did not trend for hundreds of millions of years. However, diversity subsequently rose dramatically in the Cretaceous and Cenozoic (145 million years ago–present), indicating that limits on diversification can be overcome by ecological or evolutionary change. Here, we show that the Cretaceous–Cenozoic radiation was driven by increased diversification in animals that transfer sperm between adults during fertilization, whereas animals that broadcast sperm into the water column have not changed significantly in richness since the Late Ordovician (∼450 million years ago). We argue that the former group radiated in part because directed sperm transfer permits smaller population sizes and additional modes of prezygotic isolation, as has been argued previously for the coincident radiation of angiosperms. Directed sperm transfer tends to co-occur with many ecological traits, such as a predatory lifestyle. Ecological specialization likely operated synergistically with mode of fertilization in driving the diversification that began during the Mesozoic marine revolution. Plausibly, the ultimate driver of diversification was an increase in food availability, but its effects on the fauna were regulated by fundamental reproductive and ecological traits.

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“…changing temperature). Following nearly two decades of such autecologic studies there is a large body of literature (summarized by Thayer 1983;Wheatcroft et al 1990) demonstrating that sediment displacement is tremendously complex. Deposit feeding and hence particle displacement rates have been shown to be temperature- (Rhoads 1967), particle-shape- (Whitlatch 1974), and particle-size- (Powell 1977) dependent.…”

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confidence: 99%

Experimental tests for particle size‐dependent bioturbation in the deep ocean

Wheatcroft

1992

Limnology & Oceanography

120

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The potential for particle size-dependent bioturbation rates was experimentally tested at 1,240 m in the Santa Catalina Basin (eastern Pacific). Spherical glass bead tracers in five size classes (8-16,17-3 1,32-62,63-l 25, and 126-420 pm) were spread over the sediment surface and tube cored 997 d later. Downcore concentrations of' glass beads were enumerated in each of the five size categories and Page's L-test was used to test the null hypothesis of equal vertical penetration of all size classes of tracer. In all cores the null hypothesis was rejected; finer tracers penetrated deeper into the sediment. In two of the three cores, vertical biodiffusivities were computed from concentration profiles of downcore tracers. These also showed size dependence, with biodiffusivities ranging from 1 cm2 yr-l for the 8-16-pm fraction to 0.1 cm2 yr-' for the 125-420~km size class. These data demonstrate that vertical bioturbation rates are particle size-dependent in Santa Catalina Basin. The likely cause is preferential ingestion and downward transport of fine particles by deposit Nearly all particles that reach the floor of the ocean are displaced several times by animals before they are buried to become part of the sedimentary record. This mixing of sediment or bioturbation has profound effects on a wide range of phenomena. Rates of organic matter decomposition, for example, as well as the dissolution of nearly all sedimentary constituents (e.g. CaCO, and Si02) are markedly influenced by the rate of sediment mixing (Berner 1980). Similarly, the distribution of solid and liquid phase nutrients is mediated by bioturbation, implying that there are likely to be strong feedbacks between the style and rate of mixing and the distribution of infauna. The disl Present address: Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543. Acknowledgments I thank C. Smith and P. Jumars for aid during the initiation of this research and dialogue throughout the entire project. This work could not have been accomplished without the aid and expertise of the master and crew of the RV Atlantis II, especially the Alvin group.

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Sediment-Mediated Biological Disturbance and the Evolution of Marine Benthos

Cited by 253 publications

References 296 publications

Importance of bioturbators for biodiversity maintenance: indirect effects of fishing disturbance

Importance of bioturbators for biodiversity maintenance: indirect effects of fishing disturbance

Sex and the shifting biodiversity dynamics of marine animals in deep time

Experimental tests for particle size‐dependent bioturbation in the deep ocean

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