Abstract
Capitella capitata was formerly regarded as an excellent cosmopolitan indicator species for marine pollution or environmental disturbance. Following an oil spill in West Falmouth, Massachusetts in September 1969, when most of the benthic marine fauna was killed, the subsequent responses of a number of polychaete and other invertebrate species allowed us to rank species in order of decreasing opportunism: 1. Capitella capitata 2. Polydora ligni 3. Syllides verrilli 4. Micropthalmus aberrans 5. Streblospio benedicti 6. Mediomastus ambiseta. These polychaete species all showed the ability to increase rapidly, large population size, early maturation and high mortality that are characteristics of opportunists. Preliminary electrophoretic studies on two Mdh (malate dehydrogenase) loci in Capitella collected in the oil spill area and in adjacent control areas indicated short-term selection at the Mdh-2 locus (Grassle and Grassle, 1974).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Akkeson, B., 1973, Reproduction and larval morphology of five Ophryotrocha species (Polychaeta, Dorvilleidae). Zool. Scr. 2:145–155.
Akesson, B., 1978, A new Ophryotrocha species of the labronica group (Polychaeta, Dorvilleidae) revealed in crossbreeding experiments. In: Marine Organisms, B. Battaglia and J. Beardmore, eds., Plenum Publishing Corporation, New York, pp 573–590.
Grassle, J.F., 1977, Slow recolonization of deep-sea sediment. Nature, 265:618–619.
Grassle, J.F., and J.P. Grassle, 1974, Opportunistic life histories and genetic systems in marine benthic polychaetes. J. Mar. Res., 32:253–284.
Grassle, J.P., and J.F. Grassle, 1976, Sibling species in the marine pollution indicator Capitella (Polychaeta). Science, 192:567–569.
Grassle, J.F., and J.P. Grassle, 1977, Temporal adaptations in sibling species of Capitella. In: Ecology of Marine Benthos, B.C. Coull, ed., Bell Baruch Library in Marine Science No. 6, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., pp 177–189.
Grassle, J.F., and J.P. Grassle, 1978, Life histories and genetic variation in marine invertebrates. In: Marine Organisms, B. Battaglia and J. Beardmore, eds., Plenum Publishing Corporation, New York, pp 347–364.
Kerambrun, P., and J.-M. Pérès, 1978, Mise en évidence, par electrofocalisation, de l’hétérogénéité de la population de Scolelepis (Malacoceros) fuliginosa de Cortiou (Bouches-du-Rhône). C.R. Acad. Sc. Paris, 286:1207–1210.
Rice, S.A., and J.C. Simon, In Press, Intraspecific variation in the pollution indicator species Polydora ligni (Spionidae). Ophelia.
Simon, J.L., 1968, Occurrence of pelagic larvae in Spio setosa Verrill, 1873 (Polychaeta: Spionidae). Biol. Bull., 134: 503–515.
Tenore, K.R., R.B. Hanson, B.E. Dornseif, and C.N. Wiederhold, 1979, The effect of organic nitrogen supplement on the utilization of different sources of detritus. Limnol. Oceanogr., 24:350–355.
Turner, R.D., 1973, Wood-boring bivalves, opportunistic species in the deep sea. Science,180:1377–1379.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1980 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Grassle, J. (1980). Polychaete Sibling Species. In: Brinkhurst, R.O., Cook, D.G. (eds) Aquatic Oligochaete Biology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3048-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3048-6_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-3050-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-3048-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive