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Effects of Bioadvection by Arenicola marina on Microphytobenthos in Permeable Sediments

We used hyperspectral imaging to study short-term effects of bioturbation by lugworms (Arenicola marina) on the surficial biomass of microphytobenthos (MPB) in permeable marine sediments. Within days to weeks after the addition of a lugworm to a homogenized and recomposed sediment, the average surfi...

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Autores principales: Chennu, Arjun, Volkenborn, Nils, de Beer, Dirk, Wethey, David S., Woodin, Sarah A., Polerecky, Lubos
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4521690/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26230398
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134236
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author Chennu, Arjun
Volkenborn, Nils
de Beer, Dirk
Wethey, David S.
Woodin, Sarah A.
Polerecky, Lubos
author_facet Chennu, Arjun
Volkenborn, Nils
de Beer, Dirk
Wethey, David S.
Woodin, Sarah A.
Polerecky, Lubos
author_sort Chennu, Arjun
collection PubMed
description We used hyperspectral imaging to study short-term effects of bioturbation by lugworms (Arenicola marina) on the surficial biomass of microphytobenthos (MPB) in permeable marine sediments. Within days to weeks after the addition of a lugworm to a homogenized and recomposed sediment, the average surficial MPB biomass and its spatial heterogeneity were, respectively, 150-250% and 280% higher than in sediments without lugworms. The surficial sediment area impacted by a single medium-sized lugworm (~4 g wet weight) over this time-scale was at least 340 cm(2). While sediment reworking was the primary cause of the increased spatial heterogeneity, experiments with lugworm-mimics together with modeling showed that bioadvective porewater transport from depth to the sediment surface, as induced by the lugworm ventilating its burrow, was the main cause of the increased surficial MPB biomass. Although direct measurements of nutrient fluxes are lacking, our present data show that enhanced advective supply of nutrients from deeper sediment layers induced by faunal ventilation is an important mechanism that fuels high primary productivity at the surface of permeable sediments even though these systems are generally characterized by low standing stocks of nutrients and organic material.
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spelling pubmed-45216902015-08-06 Effects of Bioadvection by Arenicola marina on Microphytobenthos in Permeable Sediments Chennu, Arjun Volkenborn, Nils de Beer, Dirk Wethey, David S. Woodin, Sarah A. Polerecky, Lubos PLoS One Research Article We used hyperspectral imaging to study short-term effects of bioturbation by lugworms (Arenicola marina) on the surficial biomass of microphytobenthos (MPB) in permeable marine sediments. Within days to weeks after the addition of a lugworm to a homogenized and recomposed sediment, the average surficial MPB biomass and its spatial heterogeneity were, respectively, 150-250% and 280% higher than in sediments without lugworms. The surficial sediment area impacted by a single medium-sized lugworm (~4 g wet weight) over this time-scale was at least 340 cm(2). While sediment reworking was the primary cause of the increased spatial heterogeneity, experiments with lugworm-mimics together with modeling showed that bioadvective porewater transport from depth to the sediment surface, as induced by the lugworm ventilating its burrow, was the main cause of the increased surficial MPB biomass. Although direct measurements of nutrient fluxes are lacking, our present data show that enhanced advective supply of nutrients from deeper sediment layers induced by faunal ventilation is an important mechanism that fuels high primary productivity at the surface of permeable sediments even though these systems are generally characterized by low standing stocks of nutrients and organic material. Public Library of Science 2015-07-31 /pmc/articles/PMC4521690/ /pubmed/26230398 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134236 Text en © 2015 Chennu et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Chennu, Arjun
Volkenborn, Nils
de Beer, Dirk
Wethey, David S.
Woodin, Sarah A.
Polerecky, Lubos
Effects of Bioadvection by Arenicola marina on Microphytobenthos in Permeable Sediments
title Effects of Bioadvection by Arenicola marina on Microphytobenthos in Permeable Sediments
title_full Effects of Bioadvection by Arenicola marina on Microphytobenthos in Permeable Sediments
title_fullStr Effects of Bioadvection by Arenicola marina on Microphytobenthos in Permeable Sediments
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Bioadvection by Arenicola marina on Microphytobenthos in Permeable Sediments
title_short Effects of Bioadvection by Arenicola marina on Microphytobenthos in Permeable Sediments
title_sort effects of bioadvection by arenicola marina on microphytobenthos in permeable sediments
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4521690/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26230398
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134236
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