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Tolerance and Preference Reactions of Marine Oligochaeta in Relation to Their Distribution

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Aquatic Oligochaete Biology

Abstract

Ecological studies on marine oligochaetes often stress the relevance of salinity, temperature, moisture and oxygen supply to their inhomogeneous distribution. However, laboratory experiments specifying the effect of single factors on the distributional pattern are scarce.

Hence, this paper reviews experimental tolerance and preference data and deals particularly with the reaction of some ecologically diverging and geographically disjunct populations of marine tubificids and enchytraeids. Differences between populations, attempts to modify their respective “home range”, and comparison with data from other authors help to substantiate the often assumptive character of field studies rendering a more direct ecophysiological proof. These experiments can lead to a deeper understanding of the complicated microdistribution in marine oligochaetes on the basis of limitation, repellance and attraction within the net of abiotic factors. Considerations on the nature of the physiological disposition in these worms lead to speculations on their adaptive potential with respect to distributional consequences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut, Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King Platz 3, 2000, Hamburg 13, West Germany

    Olav W. Giere

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  1. Olav W. Giere
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada

    Ralph O. Brinkhurst

  2. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    David G. Cook

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© 1980 Plenum Press, New York

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Giere, O.W. (1980). Tolerance and Preference Reactions of Marine Oligochaeta in Relation to Their Distribution. In: Brinkhurst, R.O., Cook, D.G. (eds) Aquatic Oligochaete Biology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3048-6_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3048-6_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-3050-9

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