Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Organic sedimentation and macrofauna as forcing factors in marine benthic nanofagellate communities

  • Published:
Microbial Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We investigated how benthic nanoflagellate communities in marine sediments respond to sedimentation of organic material and to the presence of macrofaunal organisms in controlled boxcosms. An input of 24 g C m−2 resulted in a sharp increase in densities, from 93 to 477 × 103 flagellates cm−3 within 11 days. At the onset, this increase was paralleled by enhanced bacterial production and bacterial numbers. When bacterial production collapsed, flagellate ingestion rates, varying from 17 to 67 bact flag−1 h−1, were sufficient to control bacterial abundance. The presence of macrofauna accelerated the burst in flagellate densities. With macrofauna the same maximum densities were reached, but later densities dropped to relatively low levels. Macrofaunal bioturbation resulted in higher flagellate densities deeper in the sediment (up to 1200% at 3 cm and up to 460% at 6 cm deep).

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alongi DM (1985) Effect of physical disturbance on population dynamics and trophic interactions among microbes and meiofauna. J Mar Res 43:351–364

    Google Scholar 

  2. Alongi DM (1988) Microbial-meiofaunal interrelationships in some tropical intertidal sediments. J Mar Res 46:349–365

    Google Scholar 

  3. Alongi DM (1990) Abundances of benthic microfauna in relation to outwelling of mangrove detritus in a tropical coastal region. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 63:53–63

    Google Scholar 

  4. Alongi DM (1991) Flagellates of benthic communities: characteristics and method of study. The biology of free-living heterotrophic flagellates. Oxford. eds Patterson, D.J. & Larsen, J. Clarendon Press, pp 57–75

    Google Scholar 

  5. Alongi DM, Hanson RB (1985) Effects of detritus supply on trophic relationships within experimental benthic food webs. II. Microbial responses, fate, and composition of decomposing detritus. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 88:167–182

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bak RPM, Nieuwland G (1989) Seasonal fluctuations in benthic protozoan populations at different depth in marine sediments. Neth J Sea Res 24:37–44

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bak RPM, Nieuwland G (1993) Patterns in pelagic and benthic nanoflagellate densities in the coastal upwelling system along the Banc d'Arguin Mauritania. Hydrobiologia 258:119–131

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bak RPM, Duyl FC van, Nieuwland G, Kop AJ (1991) Benthic heterotrophic nanoflagellates in North Sea field/mesocosm bottoms and their response to algal sedimentation. Ophelia 33:187–196

    Google Scholar 

  9. Berninger UG, Caron DA, Sanders RW, Finlay BJ (1991) Heterotrophic flagellates of planktonic communities: Their characteristics and methods of study. The biology of free-living heterotrophic flagellates. Oxford. eds Patterson, D.J. & Larsen, J. Clarendon Press, pp 39–56

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bloem J, Bär-Gilissen MJB (1989) Bacterial activity and protozoan grazing in a stratified lake. Limnol Oceanogr 34:297–309.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Boekel WHM van, Hansen FC, Riegman R, Bak RPM (1992) Lysis-induced decline of a Phaeocystis spring bloom and coupling with the microbial food web. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 81:269–276

    Google Scholar 

  12. Cammen LM (1991) Annual bacterial production in relation to benthic microalgal production and sediment uptake in an intertidal sandflat and an intertidal mudflat. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 71:13–25

    Google Scholar 

  13. Caron DA, Lim EL, Miceli G, Waterbury JB, Valos FW (1991) Grazing and utilization of chroococcoid cyanobacteria and heterotrophic bacteria by protozoa in laboratory cultures and a coastal plankton community. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 7:205–217

    Google Scholar 

  14. Cramer A (1989) A common artefact in estimates of benthic community respiration caused by the use of stainless steel. Neth J Sea Res 23:1–6

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ducklow HW, Carlson CA (1992) Oceanic bacterial production. Adv Microb Ecol 12:113–181

    Google Scholar 

  16. Duyl FC van, Kop AJ (1990) Seasonal patterns of bacterial production and biomass in intertidal sediments of the western Dutch Wadden Sea. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 59:249–261

    Google Scholar 

  17. Duyl FC van, Bak RPM, Kop AJ, Nieuwland G (1992) Mesocosm experiments: mimicking seasonal developments of microbial variables in North Sea sediments. Hydrobiologia 235/236: 267–281

    Google Scholar 

  18. Duyl FC van, Kop AJ, Kok A, Sandee AJJ (1992) The impact of organic matter and macrozoobenthos on bacterial and oxygen variables in marine sediment boxcosms. Neth J Sea Res 29:343–355

    Google Scholar 

  19. Duyl FC van, Raaphorst W van, Kop AJ (1993) Benthic bacterial production and nutrient sediment-water exchange in sandy North sea sediments. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 100:85–95

    Google Scholar 

  20. Epstein SS, Shiaris MP (1992) Rates of microbenthic and meiobenthic bacterivory in a temperate muddy tidal flat community. Appl Environ Microbiol 58:2426–2431

    Google Scholar 

  21. Fenchel T (1969) The ecology of marine microbenthos. IV. Structure and function of the benthic ecosystem, its chemical and physical factors and the microfauna communities with special reference to the ciliated protozoa. Ophelia 6:1–182

    Google Scholar 

  22. Fenchel T (1975) The quantitative importance of the benthic microfauna of an arctic tundra pond. Hydrobiologia 46:445–464

    Google Scholar 

  23. Fenchel T (1982) Ecology of heterotrophic microflagellates. IV. Quantitative occurrence and importance as bacterial consumers. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 9:35–42

    Google Scholar 

  24. Fenchel T (1982) Ecology of heterotrophic microflagellates. I. Some important forms and their functional morphology. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 8:211–223

    Google Scholar 

  25. Fenchel T (1982) Ecology of heterotrophic microflagellates. II. Bioenergetics and growth. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 8:225–231

    Google Scholar 

  26. Fenchel T (1982) Ecology of heterotrophic microflagellates. III. Adaptations to heterogeneous environments. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 9:25–33

    Google Scholar 

  27. Fenchel T (1986) Protozoan filter feeding. Prog Protistol 1:65–113

    Google Scholar 

  28. Finlay RH, Trexler MB, White DC (1990) Response of a benthic microbial community to biotic disturbance. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 62:135–148

    Google Scholar 

  29. Gonzalez JM, Suttle CA (1993) Grazing by marine nanoflagellates on viruses and virus-sized particles: ingestion and digestion. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 94:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  30. Gooday AJ (1988) A response by benthic Foraminifera to the deposition of phytodetritus in the deep sea. Nature 332:70–73

    Google Scholar 

  31. Graf G (1992) Benthic-pelagic coupling; a benthic view. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 30:149–190

    Google Scholar 

  32. Herndl GJ, Peduzzi P, Fanuko N (1989) Benthic community metabolism and microbial dynamics in the Gulf of Trieste (Northern Adriatic Sea). Mar Ecol Prog Ser 53:169–178

    Google Scholar 

  33. Hondeveld BJM, Bak RPM, Duyl FC van (1992) Bacterivory by heterotrophic nanoflagellates in marine sediments measured by uptake of fluorescently labeled bacteria. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 89:63–71

    Google Scholar 

  34. Hondeveld BJM, Nieuwland G, Duyl FC van, Bak RPM (1994) Temporal and spatial variations in heterotrophic nanoflagellate abundance in North Sea sediments. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 109:235–243

    Google Scholar 

  35. Kemp PF (1987) Potential impact on bacteria of grazing by a macrofaunal deposit-feeder and the fate of bacterial production. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 36:151–161

    Google Scholar 

  36. Kemp PF (1988) Bacterivory by benthic ciliates: significance as a carbon source and impact on sediment bacteria. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 49:163–169

    Google Scholar 

  37. McManus GB, Akari O (1991) On the use of surrogate food particles to measure protistan ingestion. Limnol Oceanogr 36:613–617

    Google Scholar 

  38. Meyer-Reil LA (1983) Benthic response to sedimentation events during autumn to spring at a shallow water station in the Western Kiel Bight. II. Analysis of benthic bacterial populations. Mar Biol 77:247–256

    Google Scholar 

  39. Montagna PA (1984) In situ measurement of meiobenthic grazing rates on sediment bacteria and edaphic diatoms. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 18:119–130

    Google Scholar 

  40. Patterson DJ, Larsen J (1991) The biology of free-living heterotrophic flagellates. Oxford, Clarendon Press, pp 1–505

    Google Scholar 

  41. Patterson DJ, Larsen J, Corliss JO (1989) The ecology of heterotrophic flagellates and ciliates living in marine sediments. Prog Protistol 3:185–277

    Google Scholar 

  42. Pearson TH (1982) The Loch Eil project: assessment and synthesis with a discussion of certain biological questions arising from a study of the organic pollution of sediments. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 57:93–124

    Google Scholar 

  43. Pomeroy LR (1974) The ocean's food web: a changing paradigm. BioScience 24:499–504

    Google Scholar 

  44. Riemann B, Sørensen HM, Bjørnsen PK, Horsted SJ, Jensen LM, Nielsen TG, Søndergaard M (1990) Carbon budgets of the microbial food web in estuarine enclosures. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 65:159–170

    Google Scholar 

  45. Sherr BF, Sherr EB, Pedrós-Alió C (1989) Simultaneous measurement of bacterioplankton production and protozoan bacterivory in estuarine water. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 54:209–219

    Google Scholar 

  46. Sundbäck K, Jönsson B, Nilsson P, Lindström I (1990) Impact of accumulating drifting macroalgae on a shallow-water sediment system: an experimental study. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 58:261–274

    Google Scholar 

  47. Thomsen L (1991) Treatment and splitting of samples for bacteria and meiofauna biomass determinations by means of a semi-automatic image analysis system. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 71:301–306

    Google Scholar 

  48. Tranvik LJ, Sherr EB, Sherr BF (1993) Uptake and utilization of colloidal DOM by heterotrophic flagellates in seawater. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 92:267–276

    Google Scholar 

  49. Yingst JY, Rhoads DC (1980) The role of bioturbaton in the enhancement of bacterial growth rates in marine sediments. Marine benthic dynamics. Columbia. University eds Tenore, K.R., Coull, B.C. South Carolina Press 407–421

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands

    R. P. M. Bak, F. C. van Duyl & G. Nieuwland

Authors
  1. R. P. M. Bak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. F. C. van Duyl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. G. Nieuwland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Correspondence to: R.P.M. Bak.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bak, R.P.M., van Duyl, F.C. & Nieuwland, G. Organic sedimentation and macrofauna as forcing factors in marine benthic nanofagellate communities. Microb Ecol 29, 173–182 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00167163

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00167163

Keywords

Search

Navigation