Abstract
Small-scale sediment disturbances on a sandy tidal flat in the North Sea changed the pattern of abundances in free-living platyhelminths (Turbellaria) and small Polychaeta, but not the species composition. Patches of 0.25 m2 were made anoxic, were regularly raked at the surface, or the upper layer of sediment was inverted. Recolonization after temporary anoxia proceeded very slowly. Raking caused diatom-feeding platyhelminths and the polychaetes to emigrate. Turning the upper 5 cm of the sediment upside down was harmful to both taxa, but platyhelminths recolonized quickly. Background densities were temporarily surpassed, first by predators, then by diatom feeders. Coherent responses of trophic guilds in platyhelminths do not suggest that release from competition is involved but indicate that such disturbances alter the availability of food resources and the organisms immigrate accordingly.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alongi, D. M., D. F. Boesch & R. J. Diaz, 1983. Colonization of meiobenthos in oil-contaminated subtidal sands in the lower Chesapeake Bay. Mar. Biol. 72: 325–335.
Bell, S. S. & K. M. Sherman, 1980. A field investigation of meiofaunal dispersal: Tidal resuspension and implications. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 3: 245–249.
Chandler, G. T. & J. W. Fleeger, 1983. Meiofaunal colonization of azoic estuarine sediment in Louisiana: Mechanisms of dispersal. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 69: 175–188.
Connell, J. H., 1978. Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199: 1302–1310.
Dayton, P. K., 1971. Competition, disturbance, and community organization: the provision and subsequent utilization of space in a rocky intertidal community. Ecol. Monogr. 41: 351–389.
Findlay, S. E. G., 1981. Small-scale distribution of meiofauna on a mud-and sandflat. Estuar. coast. shelf Sci. 12: 471–484.
Grassle, J. F. & H. L. Sanders, 1973. Life histories and the role of disturbance. Deep Sea Res. 20: 643–659.
Hagerman, G. M. & R. M. Rieger, 1981. Dispersal of benthic meiofauna by wave and current action in Bogue Sound, North Carolina, U.S.A. Mar. Ecol. 2: 245–270.
Hogue, E. W., 1982. Sediment disturbance and the spatial distributions of shallow water meiobenthic nematodes on the open Oregon coast. J. mar. Res. 40: 551–573.
Michaelis, H., 1981. Recent changes in the communities of the Wadden Sea — natural phenomena or effects of pollution? Biol. Meddr 5: 87–95.
Oliver, J. S., P. N. Slattery, L. W. Hulberg & J. W. Nybakken, 1980. Relationships between wave disturbances and zonation of benthic invertebrate communities along a subtidal high-energy beach in Monteray Bay, California. Fish. Bull. U.S.A. 78: 437–454.
Radziejewska, T. & M. Stańkowska-Radzuin, 1979. Intertidal meiofauna of Rechercheffjorden and Malbukta, Vest-Spitsbergen. Sarsia 64: 253–258.
Reidenauer, J. A. & D. Thistle, 1981. Response of a soft-bottom harpacticoid community to Stingray (Dasyatis sabina) disturbance. Mar. Biol. 65: 261–267.
Reise, K., 1979. Spatial configurations generated by motile benthic polychaetes. Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 32: 55–72.
Reise, K., 1981a. High abundance of small zoobenthos around biogenic structures in tidal sediments of the Wadden Sea. Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 34: 413–425.
Reise, K., 1981b. Gnathostomulida abundant alongside polychaete burrows. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 6: 329–333.
Reise, K., 1983. Biotic enrichment of intertidal sediments by experimental aggregates of the deposit-feeding bivalve Macoma balthica. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 12: 229–236.
Reise, K. & P. Ax, 1979. A meiofaunal ‘thiobios’ limited to the anaerobic sulfide system of marine sand does not exist. Mar. Biol. 54: 225–237.
Schmidt, P., 1968. Die quantitative Verteilung und Populationsdynamik des Mesopsammons am Gezeiten-Sandstrand der Nordseeinsel Sylt. Int. Revue ges. Hydrobiol. 53: 723–779.
Sherman, K. M. & B. C. Coull, 1980. The response of meiofauna to sediment disturbance. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 46: 59–71.
Sherman, K. M., J. A. Reidenauer, D. Thistle & D. Meeter, 1983. Role of natural disturbance in an assemblage of marine free-living nematodes. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 11: 23–30.
Thistle, D., 1980. The response of a harpacticoid copepod community to a small-scale natural disturbance. J. mar. Res. 38: 381–395.
Thistle, D., 1981. Natural physical disturbances and communities of marine soft bottoms. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 6: 223–228.
VanBlaricom, G. R., 1982. Experimental analyses of structural regulation in a marine sand community exposed to oceanic swell. Ecol. Monogr. 52: 283–305.
White, P. S., 1979. Pattern, process, and natural disturbance in vegetation. Bot. Rev. 45: 229–299.
Zajac, R. N. & R. B. Whitlatch, 1982. Responses of estuarine infauna to disturbance, 1. Spatial and temporal variation of initial recolonization. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 10: 1–14.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reise, K. Experimental sediment disturbances on a tidal flat: Responses of free-living Platyhelminthes and small Polychaeta. Hydrobiologia 118, 73–81 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00031790
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00031790