Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS35 Biological and Ecological Responses to Low Oxygen in Constant and Fluctuating Environments (Spatial and Temporal Connections)

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001, Time: 2:15:00 PM

Location: La Cienega

Woodin, S, A, Univ. South Carolina, Columbia, USA, woodin@biol.sc.edu

Marinelli, R, L, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, USA, marinelli@cbl.umces.edu

Edwards, D, , University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA, deirdre@biol.sc.edu

POREWATER AND RECRUITMENT: PART II. FAUNAL RESPONSES

Sediment porewaters have chemical signatures defined by a variety of parameters including organic matter reactivity and disturbance frequency. Prior research suggests infauna use components such as oxygen and ammonium as recruitment cues. The relative importance of these cues differs with gradient steepness and reaction kinetics, both correlated with grain size (see talk by Marinelli, Woodin and Edwards). There appear to be critical concentrations of both ammonium and oxygen beyond which rejection of the habitat is common. In sands porewater solutes do not seem to convey information to recruits, but with elevation of ammonium concentrations via manipulation, the recruits reject as expected. In unmanipulated sand cores the recruits did not respond to disturbance of the surficial sediments, while they did in the muddy sand cores. This is consistent with our prediction based on the size of the chemical signal and our measurement of the signal; all of which is consistent with our prediction that recruits use dissolved substances as cues to habitat suitability in diagenically reactive habitats.

This Session Listing

Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

Quicklinks