Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of simulated sublethal predation on the growth and regeneration rates of a spionid polychaete in laboratory flumes

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Most spionid polychaetes switch from deposit feeding to suspension feeding as current speed and the flux of suspended food increase. Growth rates of juvenile Polydora cornuta are strongly affected by flow and can be as rapid as 60% day−1 in moderate currents. Feeding palps that extend above the sediment–water interface during suspension feeding are especially vulnerable to sublethal predation, but individuals with damaged posteriors are also common. We performed a series of laboratory flume experiments to test the effects of sublethal tissue damage on the growth and regeneration rates of P. cornuta juveniles. Replicated experiments were conducted at three flow speeds in counter-rotating annular flumes containing field-collected sediment and a nonliving algal slurry as deposited and suspended food. In the first set of experiments, we removed 2, 1, or 0 of worms’ two feeding palps and measured the relative growth rates of worm bodies and palps after 3 days in the flumes. Worms that lost both palps grew significantly slower than the other two groups, but the growth rate of worms that had one undamaged palp was not significantly different from worms that had two undamaged palps. Faster flow speeds significantly increased rates of body growth, and there was a significant interaction between flow and the effect of palp loss. During the 3-day experiments, damaged palps fully regenerated and often grew larger than they were prior to being removed. Damaged palps also grew significantly faster than undamaged palps. The second set of experiments tested the effects of removing a worm’s posterior region (~18% of body volume). The growth rates of these damaged and undamaged worms did not differ significantly. By the end of a 3-day flume experiment, damaged worms had grown 6× larger than they were prior to the posterior damage. The rapid regeneration of damaged palps and posterior tissue in moderate flows that allow suspension feeding suggests that sublethal predation on spionids might be more frequent than previously estimated and will have little impact on the growth of juvenile recruits.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aller RC (1982) The effects of macrobenthos on chemical properties of marine sediment and overlying water. In: McCall PL, Tevesz MJS (eds) Animal–sediment relations. Plenum, New York, pp 53–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Blake JA, Maciolek NJ (1987) A redescription of Polydora cornuta Bosc (Polychaeta: Spionidae) and designation of a neotype. Bull Biol Soc Wash 7:11–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Bock MJ, Miller DC (1996) Fluid flow and suspended particulates as determinants of polychaete feeding behavior. J Mar Res 54:565–588

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bolam SG, Fernandes TF (2003) Dense aggregations of Pygospio elegans (Claparede): effect on macrofaunal community structure and sediments. J Sea Res 49:171–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummings VJ, Pridmore RD, Thrush SF, Hewitt JE (1996) Effect of the spionid polychaete Boccardia syrtis on the distribution and survival of juvenile Macomona liliana (Bivalvia: Tellinacea). Mar Biol 126:91–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dauer DM, Maybury CA, Ewing RM (1981) Feeding behavior and general ecology of several spionid polychaetes from the Chesapeake Bay. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 54:21–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Vlas J (1979a) Annual food intake by plaice and flounder in a tidal flat area in the Dutch Wadden Sea, with special reference to consumption of regenerating parts of macrobenthic prey. Neth J Sea Res 13:117–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Vlas J (1979b) Secondary production by tail regeneration in a tidal flat population of lugworms (Arenicola Marina), cropped by flatfish. Neth J Sea Res 13:362–393

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher RA (1920) Some remarks on the methods formulated in a recent article on “The quantitative analysis of plant growth”. Ann Appl Biol 7:367–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hentschel BT (2004) Sediment resuspension and boundary-layer flow dramatically enhance the growth rates of interface-feeding spionid polychaetes. J Mar Syst 49:209–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hentschel BT, Herrick BS (2005) Growth rates of interface-feeding spionid polychaetes in simulated tidal currents. J Mar Res 63:983–999

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hentschel BT, Larson AA (2005) Growth rates of interface-feeding polychaetes: combined effects of flow speed and suspended food concentration. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 293:119–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hentschel BT, Larson AA (2006) Hydrodynamic mediation of density-dependent growth and adult-juvenile interactions of a spionid polychaete. Limnol Oceanogr 51:1031–1037

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt HL (2004) Effects of epibenthic predators in flow: transport and mortality of juveniles of the soft shell clam Mya arenaria. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 279:151–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurlbert SH (1984) Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecol Monogr 54:187–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay SM, Woodin SA (1992) The effect of palp loss on feeding behavior of two spionid polychaetes: changes in exposure. Biol Bull 183:440–447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay SM, Woodin SA (1995) Tissue loss induces switching of feeding mode in spionid polychaetes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 125:159–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay SM, Wethey DS, Woodin SA (1996) Modeling interactions of browsing predation, infaunal activity, and recruitment in marine soft-sediment habitats. Am Nat 148:684–699

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay SM, Jackson JL, He SQ, Forest D (2004) Losing heads and making connections: anterior regeneration in spionid polychaetes. Integr Comp Biol 44:593

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckenbach MW, Huggett DV, Zobrist EC (1988) Sediment transport, biotic modifications, and selection of grain size in a surface deposit-feeder. Estuaries 11:134–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noji CI-M, Noji TT (1991) Tube lawns of spionid polychaetes and their significance for recolonization of disturbed benthic substrates. A review. Meeresforschung 33:235–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson CH, Quammen ML (1982) Siphon nipping: its importance to small fishes and its impact on growth of the bivalve Protothaca staminea (Conrad). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 63:249–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson CH, Skilleter GA (1994) Control of foraging behavior of individuals within an ecosystem context: the clam Macoma balthica, flow environment, and siphon-cropping fishes. Oecologia 100:256–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shimeta J, Koehl MAR (1997) Mechanisms of particle selection by tentaculate suspension feeders during encounter, retention, and handling. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 209:47–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shimeta J, Witucki PF, Hippe KR (2004) Influences of nutritional state and temperature on suspension-feeding rates and mechanics in the spionid polychaete Polydora cornuta. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 280:173–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stancyk SE, Golde HM, Pape-Lindstrom PA, Dobson WE (1994) Born to lose. I. Measures of tissue loss and regeneration by the brittlestar Microphiopholis gracillima (Stimpson) (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea). Mar Biol 118:451–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stehlik LL, Meise CJ (2000) Diet of winter flounder in a New Jersey estuary: ontogenetic change and spatial variation. Estuaries 23:381–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taghon GL (1992) Effects of animal density and supply of deposited and suspended food particles on feeding, growth and small-scale distributions of two spionid polychaetes. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 162:77–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taghon GL, Greene RR (1992) Utilization of deposited and suspended particulate matter by benthic “interface” feeders. Limnol Oceanogr 37:1370–1391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taghon GL, Nowell ARM, Jumars PA (1980) Induction of suspension feeding in spionid polychaetes by high particulate fluxes. Science 210:262–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thrush SF, Whitlatch RB, Pridmore RD, Hewitt JE, Cummings VJ, Wilkinson MR (1996) Scale-dependent recolonization: the role of sediment stability in a dynamic sandflat habitat. Ecology 77:2472–2487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virnstein RW (1977) The importance of predation by crabs and fishes on benthic infauna in Chesapeake Bay. Ecology 58:1199–1217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West JM, Williams GD, Madon SP, Zedler JB (2003) Integrating spatial and temporal variability into the analysis of fish food web linkages in Tijuana Estuary. Environ Biol Fish 67:297–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodin SA (1982) Browsing: important in marine sedimentary environments? Spionid polychaete examples. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 60:35–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zajac RN (1985) The effects of sublethal predation on reproduction in the spionid polychaete Polydora ligni Webster. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 88:1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zajac RN (1995) Sublethal predation on Polydora cornuta (Polychaeta: Spionidae): patterns of tissue loss in a field population, predator functional response and potential demographic impacts. Mar Biol 123:531–541

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

C. Fuller and P. Nawrot provided expert technical assistance at the Rutgers University Flume Facility. Discussions with G. Taghon, J. Shimeta, J.P. Grassle, and K. Stocks improved the design of experiments and interpretation of the data. J.F. Grassle generously provided access to videomicroscopy equipment in his lab, and J. Gregg assisted in the image analysis of worm size measurements. Comments by S. Lindsay, B. Herrick, K. Stocks, S. Kevin, and one anonymous reviewer improved earlier versions of this manuscript. Funding was provided by NSF grant OCE- 0000951.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182-4614, USA

    Brian T. Hentschel & Natalie S. Harper

Authors
  1. Brian T. Hentschel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Natalie S. Harper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian T. Hentschel.

Additional information

Communicated by P.W. Sammarco, Chauvin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hentschel, B.T., Harper, N.S. Effects of simulated sublethal predation on the growth and regeneration rates of a spionid polychaete in laboratory flumes. Mar Biol 149, 1175–1183 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-006-0274-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-006-0274-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation