Benthos are those organisms that live on the bottom of, on solid surfaces of, or on other substrata in aquatic and marine ecosystems (Brinkhurst and Boltt, 1974; Coull, 1977). They can be most generally divided into phytobenthos and zoobenthos , and by size into macrobenthos , meiobenthos , and microbenthos . Various specific size ranges have been defined, but broadly, macrobenthos are those with a smallest or shortest dimension greater than 0.5 mm, microbenthos are those smaller than 0.1 mm, and meiobenthos all organisms in between those size classes.
Most of the phyla are represented in the benthos, from the Cyanobacteria and Protozoa through the angiosperms and large macroinvertebrates, and (mostly primitive) vertebrates. Algae, which are important primary producers in most systems, reach their greatest size and influence in marine nearshore communities. Higher orders, such as spermatophytes, are broadly distributed in most shallow habitats. Protozoa are ubiquitous. Porifera and...
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Bibliography
Brinkhurst, R. O., and Boltt, R. E., 1974. The Benthos of Lakes. New York: St Martin's Press, 190 pp.
Coull, B. C. (ed.), 1977. Ecology of Marine Benthos. Columbia, SC: Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research, University of South Carolina Press, 467 pp.
Gray, J. S., 1981. The Ecology of Marine Sediments: an Introduction to the Structure and Function of Benthic Communities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 185 pp.
John, D. M., Hawkins, S. J., and Price, J. H., 1992. Plant–Animal Interactions in the Marine Benthos. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 570 pp.
Parker, R. H., 1975. The Study of Benthic Communities: a Model and a Review. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 279 pp.
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© 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Stites, D.L. (1999). Benthos. In: Environmental Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_30
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