Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS08 Processes at the Benthic Interface (Environmental Connections)

Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2001, Time: 4:45:00 PM

Location: Ruidoso/Pecos

Griffen, B, D, Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA, blainegriffen@juno.com

DeWitt, T, H, Environmental Protection Agency, Newport, USA, dewitt.ted@epamail.epa.gov

Langdon, C, , Oregon State University, Newport, USA, chris.langdon@hmsc.orst.edu

FEEDING RATES OF THE BURROWING SHRIMP UPOGEBIA PUGETTENSIS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR ESTUARINE TROPHODYNAMICS

The suspension-feeding, burrowing shrimp, Upogebia pugettensis, inhabits extensive areas of estuarine mud flats from Alaska to Baja, CA., with maximum densities reaching 700 individuals per square meter. Despite its abundance and potential effects on estuarine trophodynamics, nothing has been published about its feeding rates. Here we report results of the first study to look at feeding rates of the shrimp, and the implications these rates may present for food competition with other ecologically or economically important suspension feeders. Using laboratory and field experiments, conducted at Yaquina Bay, OR., we tested the clearance rates and retention efficiencies for the size range of particles most often utilized by bivalves. Values were determined for the shrimp, and for a commensal bivalve found in shrimp burrows. For comparison, measurements were also made on the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, a commercially important bivalve species that is grown in many of the same areas inhabited by the shrimp. Preliminary calculations indicate that the shrimp, together with commensals, may potentially filter a significant portion of the estuarine water volume over a given tidal cycle.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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