Abstract
The effect of predation by blue crabs and fishes on all species of infaunal macrobenthos of a subtidal sandy bottom in the York River, Virginia, was investigated by manipulative field experiments. Wire mesh cages were used both to exclude all large predators from and to confine different predators to small areas of the natural bottom. After 2 months, many species showed significant differences between the various treatments. There were similar patterns of species responses in three separate years. Species tended to fit one of two categories. Those species which had tough tubes, which lived deep in the sediment, or which could quickly retract deep into the sediment were shown experimentally not to change much in abundance regardless of whether predators were excluded or included. These species were generally the numerical dominants in the natural community—e.g.Peloscolex gabriellae, Heteromastus filiformis, Spiochaetopterus oculatus, andPhoronis psammophila. Other species which lived near the surface or exposed on the surface responded to experimentally altered predation intensity with large changes in density. These species were either uncommon or only sporadically abundant in the natural community—e.g.Polydora ligni, Streblospio benedicti, Mulinia lateralis, andLyonsia hyalina. This evidence indicates that the abundant species in the natural community are abundant because they avoid predators.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Barnes, R. D. 1964. Tube-building and feeding in the chaetopterid polychaete,Spiochaetopterus oculatus.Biol. Bull. 127:397–412.
Blegvad, H. 1928. Quantitative investigations of bottom invertebrates in the Limfjord, 1910–1927, with special reference to the plaice-food.Rep. Danish Biol. Sta. 34: 33–52.
Boesch, D. F. 1973. Classification and community structure of macrobenthos in the Hampton Roads area, Virginia.Mar. Biol. 21:226–244.
Boesch, D. F., R. J. Diaz, andR. W. Virnstein. 1976. Effects of Tropical Storm Agnes on soft-bottom macrobenthic communities of the James and York estuaries and the lower Chesapeake Bay.Chesapeake Sci. 17:246–259.
—,M. L. Wass, andR. W. Virnstein. 1976. The dynamics of estuarine benthic communities, p. 177–196.In M. Wiley (ed.), Estuarine Processes, Vol. 1. Uses, Stresses, and Adaptation to the Estuary. Academic Press, New York.
Chao, L. N. 1976. Aspects of systematics, morphology, life history and feeding of western Atlantic Sciaenidae (Pisces: Perciformes), Ph.D. dissertation, the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. 351 p.
Connell, J. H. 1970. A predator-prey system in the marine intertidal region. I.Balanus glandula and several predatory species ofThais.Ecol. Monogr. 40:49–78.
— 1972. Community interactions on marine rocky intertidal shores.Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 3:169–192.
— 1975. Some mechanisms producing structure in natural communities p. 460–490.In M. L. Cody and J. M. Diamond (eds.), Ecology and Evolution of Communities. Belknap Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Dauer, D. M., andJ. L. Simon 1976. Repopulation of the polychaete fauna of an intertidal habitat following natural defaunation: species equilibrium.Oecologia 22:99–117.
Emig, C. C. 1972. Regeneration de la region anterieure dePhoronis psammophila Cori (Phoronida).Z. Morph. Tiere 73:117–144.
Grassle, J. F., andJ. P. Grassle 1974. Opportunistic life histories and genetic systems in marine benthic polychaetes.J. Mar. Res. 32:253–284.
Hildebrand, S. F., and W. C. Schroeder. 1928. The fishes of Chesapeake Bay.Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., 53, pt. I. (Reprinted 1972, for Smithsonian Inst. By T. F. H. Publ., Inc., Neptune, N.J.). 388 p.
Lucy, J. A. 1977. The reproductive cycle ofMya arenaria L. and distribution of juvenile clams in the upper portion of the nearshore zone of the York River, Virginia. M.S. thesis, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. 124 p.
Markle, D. F. 1976. The seasonality of availability and movements of fishes in the channel of the York River, Virginia.Chesapeake Sci. 17:50–55.
McCall, P. L. 1977. Community patterns and adaptive strategies of the infaunal benthos of Long Island Sound.J. Mar. Res. 35:221–266.
Naqvi, S. M. Z. 1968. Effects of predation on infaunal invertebrates of Alligator Harbor, Florida.Gulf Res. Rept. 2:313–321.
Orth, R. J. 1971. Observations on the planktonic larvae ofPolydora ligni Webster (Polychaeta: Spionidae) in the York River, Virginia.Chesapeake Sci. 12:121–124.
— 1975. Destruction of eelgrass,Zostera marina, by the cownose ray,Rhinoptera bonasus, in the Chesapeake Bay.Chesapeake Sci. 16:205–208.
Pacheco, A. L. 1962a. Age and growth of spot in lower Chesapeake Bay, with notes on distribution and abundance of juveniles in the lower York River system.Chesapeake Sci. 3:18–28.
— 1962b. Movements of spot,Leiostomus xanthurus, in the lower Chesapeake Bay.Chesapeake Sci. 3:256–257.
Paine, R. T. 1974. Intertidal community structure. Experimental studies on the relationship between a dominant competition and its principal predator.Oecologia 15:93–120.
— 1976. Size-limited predation: an observational and experimental approach with theMytilus-Pisaster interaction.Ecology 57:858–873.
Peer, D. L. 1976. Relation between biomass, productivity, and loss to predators in a population of a marine benthic polychaetePectinaria hyperborea.J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 27:2143–2153.
Reise, K. 1977a. Predation pressure and community structure of an intertidal soft-bottom fauna, p. 513–519.In B. F. Keegan, P. O. Ceidigh, and P. I. S. Boaden (eds.), Biology of Benthic Organisms. Pergamon Press, New York.
— 1977b. Predator exclusion experiments in an intertidal mud flat.Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 30: 263–271.
—. 1977c. Experiments on epibenthic predation in an the Wadden Sea.Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 31: 55–101.
Rhoads, D. C. 1974. Organism-sediment relations on the muddy sea floor.Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev. 12:263–300.
Ropes, J. W. 1969. The feeding habits of the green crab,Carcinus maenas (L.).Fishery Bull. U.S. Fish Wildlife Serv. 67:183–203.
Sanders, H. L., P. C. Mangelsdorf, Jr., andG. R. Hampson. 1965. Salinity and faunal distribution in the Pocasset River, Massachusetts.Limnol. Oceanogr. 10(Suppl.):R216-R229.
Sokal, R. R., andF. J. Rohlf. 1969. Biometry. W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco. 776 p.
Stickney, R. R., G. L. Taylor, andD. B. White. 1975. Food habits of five species of young Southeastern United States estuarine Sciaenidae.Chesapeake Sci. 16:104–114.
Virnstein, R. W. 1977. The importance of predation by crabs and fishes on benthic infauna in Chesapeake Bay.Ecology 58:1199–1217.
— 1978. Predator caging experiments in soft sediments: caution advised, p. 261–273.In M. L. Wiley (ed.), Estuarine Interactions. Academic Press, New York.
Wass, M. L. 1972. A checklist of the biota of lower Chesapeake Bay.Va. Inst. Mar. Sci. Spec. Sci. Rept. No. 65. 290 p.
Watling, L. 1975. Analysis of structural variations in a shallow estuarine deposit-feeding community.J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 19:275–313.
Whitlatch, R. B. 1977. Seasonal changes in the community structure of the macrobenthos inhabiting the intertidal sand and mud flats of Barnstable Harbor, Massachusetts.Biol. Bull. 152:275–294.
Woodin, S. A. 1974. Polychaete abundance patterns in a marine soft-sediment environment: the importance of biological interactions.Ecol. Monogr. 44:171–187.
Young, D. K., M. A. Buzas, andM. W. Young 1976. Species densities of macrobenthos associated with seagrasses: a field experimental study of predation.J. Mar. Res. 34:567–592.
Zaret, T. M. 1972. Predator-prey interactions in a tropical lacustrine ecosystem.Ecology 53:248–257.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Contribution No. 859 of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and No. 99 of the Harbor Branch Foundation.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Virnstein, R.W. Predation on estuarine infauna: Response patterns of component species. Estuaries 2, 69–86 (1979). https://doi.org/10.2307/1351631
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1351631