Weight-to-weight conversion factors for marine benthic macroinvertebrates

Abstract

The measurement of macroinvertebrate biomass involves time-consuming procedures and the destruction of specimens. However, from simple wet weight (WW) measurements, conversion factors provide rapid estimates of ash-free dry weight (AFDW) that facilitate large-scale comparisons of secondary production and energy flow. From a compilation of published and unpublished data, we have calculated general conversion factors for 28 taxonomic groups of benthic marine macroinvertebrates, as well as for several species of commercial importance. Despite methodological and regional &fferences among studies, narrow confidence limits surrounded mean values for converting from WW to AFDW for polychaetes (16%), prosobranch gastropods (7.5%). bivalves (5.8%), amphipods (16%), and decapods (16.5 %).

Biodiversity and body size are linked across metazoans

“…For example, the largest cnidarian, Cyanea arctica, and poriferan, Aphrocallistes vastus, occupy approximately the same biovolume as the giant squid, A. dux, but they do not have similar organic material weights. For medusae, ash-free dry weight is less than 2 per cent of total weight ( Lucas 1994) and for poriferans between 9.3 and 12.1 per cent (Ricciardi & Bourget 1998). By contrast, ash-free dry weight is 13.6-29.2% of wet weight in cephalopods (Ricciardi & Bourget 1998).…”

Recently established Crassostrea-reefs versus native Mytilus-beds: differences in ecosystem engineering affects the macrofaunal communities (Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony, southern German Bight)

“…All other macrobenthic fauna of the epibenthos samples and of the sediment samples were determined to species level, counted and stored in 70% ethanol. Biomass (g AFDW) was calculated from wet weight using published conversion factors (Brey 2001;Ricciardi and Bourget 1998). For barnacles a conversion factor was calculated based on data of this study.…”

Metabolic cold adaptation and aerobic performance of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) along a temperature gradient into the High Arctic region

“…The mussels were then returned to holding tanks for 5 days of recovery time, during which they were fed to saturation the first 2 days, followed by 72 h of starvation prior to the next experiments. Upon completion of SMR and AMR measurements replicates, the animals were carefully removed, and all the soft tissue was dissected out and measured on a digital scale, and a conversion to dry weight was made based on Ricciardi and Bourget (1998). After animal removal, the background respiration in each respirometer was recorded for another 2 h to determine microbial oxygen demand (i.e.…”