Publication: The effects of macrobenthic deposit-feeding on the degradation of chloropigments in sandy sediments
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Issued Date
1988
Resource Type
File Type
application/pdf
ISSN
220981
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-0024225111
Rights Holder(s)
Scopus
Bibliographic Citation
Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. Vol 122, No.3 (1988), p.243-255
Suggested Citation
Bianchi T.S., Dawson R., Sawangwong P. The effects of macrobenthic deposit-feeding on the degradation of chloropigments in sandy sediments. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. Vol 122, No.3 (1988), p.243-255. doi:10.1016/0022-0981(88)90126-8 Retrieved from: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14740/7528
Author(s)
Abstract
Microcosms with sediments containing either the bivalve Macoma balthica (surface deposit-feeder), the polychaete Leitoscoloplos fragilis (subsurface deposit-feeder), or both animals were maintained in a flow-through seawater system. Two different plant-derived food sources (Ulva rotundata or Zostera marina) were added (weekly) to the microcosms. The conversion of chlorophyll a to phaeophorbide a was significantly higher in microcosms containing macrofauna than in the controls with no macrofauna. Microbenthos in the controls were only capable of converting chlorophylls a and b to phaeophytins. The highest production of phaeophorbide a was in isolated deposit-feeder treatments with U. rotundata as the food source. Even though the total macrofaunal biomass was greater in the treatments with the two deposit-feeders together, more phaeophorbide was produced in the isolated treatments. Because M. balthica has a different feeding mode than L. fragilis, feeding interference between surface and subsurface deposit-feeding activities may have occurred in the combined treatments, thus producing less phaeophorbides. Phaeophorbides may represent good feeding markers for macrobenthic deposit-feeding processes. The amount of ingested chlorophyll that is converted to phaeopigments is dependent upon the quality of plant source materials and the interactions between coexisting species. © 1988.