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The dispersal and colonisation behaviour of the marine polychaete Nereis diversicolor (O. F. Müller) in south-east England

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Abstract

A 12 month in situ experiment-assessed colonisation behaviour of Nereis diversicolor (Nereis) using cores of defaunated sediment; either raised 5 cm above the mudflat surface (colonisation by swimming only) or flush with it (colonisation by crawling and swimming). Recruitment and dispersal occurred throughout the year but were highest in the summer. During the summer peak dispersal period the densities of worms in the raised cores were about half of those in the flush cores indicating approximately equal levels of dispersal by swimming and crawling. Colonisation of the raised cores, by swimming only, was by Nereis less than 6 cm in length. The length frequencies of worms in the flush treatments were similar to those of the natural population, including worms up to 12 cm in length indicating that larger worms disperse only by crawling. In the spring and summer the abundances of the smallest Nereis in the raised cores were between 60 and 80% of the total abundances in the flush cores, indicating that most small worms had also colonised the flush treatments by swimming. The densities of worms in the flush treatments were lower than, but not significantly different to, the natural population (with the exception of November and December). It is concluded that in most months worms undergo dispersal, mainly by swimming when small, and by crawling thereafter.

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Acknowledgements

This work was conducted as part of a Natural Environment Research Council funded studentship (NER/S/A/2006/14028) with additional CASE support from the Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS). We would like to thank P. Whomersley, M. Frost and R. Hayes for assistance in the field, and J. Barry for his invaluable statistical guidance and advice.

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  1. Jacobs Engineering Ltd, Kenneth Dibden House, Enterprise Road, Southampton Science Park, Chiworth, Southampton, Hampshire, SO16 7NS, UK

    M. J. R. Aberson

  2. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, UK

    S. G. Bolam

  3. School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK

    R. G. Hughes

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  1. M. J. R. Aberson
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Correspondence to M. J. R. Aberson.

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Guest editors: R. J. Uncles & S. B. Mitchell / The Thames Estuary and Estuaries of South East England

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Aberson, M.J.R., Bolam, S.G. & Hughes, R.G. The dispersal and colonisation behaviour of the marine polychaete Nereis diversicolor (O. F. Müller) in south-east England. Hydrobiologia 672, 3–14 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0752-y

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