The effects of infaunal biodiversity on biogeochemistry of coastal marine sediments

We tested the role of benthic infaunal functional diversity in regulating the biogeochemistry of nearshore sediments using laboratory microcosms. Single and multispecies assemblages of deposit‐feeding polychaetes (Clymenella torquata, Spio setosa, and Leitoscoloplos fragilis) were used, and fluxes of oxygen and phosphate, as well as profiles of oxygen and pH in the sediment pore water, were measured. Significant differences in flux rates were found among treatments that were unrelated to polychaete abundance or biomass alone. Multispecies assemblages had lower flux rates of both oxygen and phosphate than rates calculated from the single‐species treatments. Depth integrated oxygen and pH profiles also showed significant differences between multispecies assemblages and selected single‐species treatments. These differences were most likely from species‐specific feeding and burrowing behavior and species‐related interactions. Coefficients of variance for both oxygen and pH were highest for microcosms with no polychaetes and lowest for the assemblages, indicating a dampening effect of multispecies assemblages on porewater heterogeneity. When oxygen flux data was incorporated into a model of oxygen dynamics in Long Island Sound, results indicated that shifts in the benthic community composition could change sediment oxygen consumption rates sufficiently to disrupt the balance between the physical supply of oxygenated water and biological oxygen demand. The results of this study confirm the importance of benthic functional biodiversity to nearshore sedimentary processes and suggest that losses of functional diversity can have significant effects on ecosystem function.

[1]  R. Marinelli,et al.  Evidence for density-dependent effects of infauna on sediment biogeochemistry and benthic–pelagic coupling in nearshore systems , 2003 .

[2]  D. Raffaelli,et al.  Flow modifies the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: an in situ study of estuarine sediments , 2003 .

[3]  J. Stachowicz,et al.  BIODIVERSITY, INVASION RESISTANCE, AND MARINE ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION: RECONCILING PATTERN AND PROCESS , 2002 .

[4]  S. Wakeham,et al.  Experimental investigation of the control of bacterial community composition in macrofaunal burrows , 2002 .

[5]  R. Paine.  Trophic Control of Production in a Rocky Intertidal Community , 2002, Science.

[6]  L. Legendre,et al.  Pelagic food webs: Responses to environmental processes and effects on the environment , 2002, Ecological Research.

[7]  Margaret A. Palmer,et al.  Species diversity enhances ecosystem functioning through interspecific facilitation , 2002, Nature.

[8]  J. Emmett Duffy,et al.  GRAZER DIVERSITY, FUNCTIONAL REDUNDANCY, AND PRODUCTIVITY IN SEAGRASS BEDS: AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST , 2001 .

[9]  A. Covich,et al.  The Function of Marine Critical Transition Zones and the Importance of Sediment Biodiversity , 2001, Ecosystems.

[10]  Martin Solan,et al.  Consistent patterns and the idiosyncratic effects of biodiversity in marine ecosystems , 2001, Nature.

[11]  C. Heip,et al.  Global Change and Biodiversity Linkages across the Sediment–Water Interface , 2000 .

[12]  C. Duarte,et al.  Marine biodiversity and ecosystem services: an elusive link. , 2000, Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology.

[13]  D. Wardle.  Is "Sampling Effect" a Problem for Experiments Investigating Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function Relationships? , 1999 .

[14]  R. Aller,et al.  The effect of biogenic irrigation intensity and solute exchange on diagenetic reaction rates in marine sediments , 1998 .

[15]  Bland J. Finlay,et al.  Microbial diversity and ecosystem function , 1997 .

[16]  J. Lawton,et al.  POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF ORGANISMS AS PHYSICAL ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERS , 1997 .

[17]  P. Reich,et al.  The Influence of Functional Diversity and Composition on Ecosystem Processes , 1997 .

[18]  J. O'donnell,et al.  Calculations of horizontal mixing rates using222Rn and the controls on hypoxia in western Long Island Sound, 1991 , 1997 .

[19]  B. Boudreau,et al.  An experimental and modeling study of pH and related solutes in an irrigated anoxic coastal sediment , 1996 .

[20]  M. Huettel,et al.  Flow‐induced uptake of particulate matter in permeable sediments , 1996 .

[21]  R. Aller.  Bioturbation and remineralization of sedimentary organic matter: effects of redox oscillation☆ , 1994 .

[22]  J. Lawton,et al.  Declining biodiversity can alter the performance of ecosystems , 1994, Nature.

[23]  R. Marinelli.  Effects of burrow ventilation on activities of a terebellid polychaete and silicate removal from sediment pore waters , 1994 .

[24]  F. Andersen,et al.  The influence of macrofauna on estuarine benthic community metabolism: a microcosm study , 1988 .

[25]  T. Bianchi.  Feeding ecology of subsurface deposit-feeder Leitoscoloplos fragilis Verrill. I. Mechanisms affecting particle availability on intertidal sandflat , 1988 .

[26]  J. Weinberg,et al.  Enhanced growth of a filter-feeding bivalve by a deposit-feeding polychaete by means of nutrient regeneration , 1983 .

[27]  R. Whitlatch,et al.  Aspects of deposit-feeding by the Polychaete Clymenella torquata , 1982 .

[28]  D. Dauer,et al.  Feeding behavior and general ecology of several spionid polychaetes from the Chesapeake Bay , 1981 .

[29]  A. R. Nowell,et al.  Induction of Suspension Feeding in Spionid Polychaetes by High Particulate Fluxes , 1980, Science.

[30]  M. Krom,et al.  Adsorption of phosphate in anoxic marine sediments1 , 1980 .

[31]  R. Brinkhurst,et al.  Evidence of Interspecific Interactions in the Respiration of Tubificid Oligochaetes , 1973 .

[32]  S. Hulth,et al.  The influence of macrofaunal burrow spacing and diffusive scaling on sedimentary nitrification and denitrification: An experimental simulation and model approach , 2003 .

[33]  J. Ellis,et al.  Fishing disturbance and marine biodiversity : the role of habitat structure in simple soft-sediment systems , 2001 .

[34]  P. Hall,et al.  Biogeochemical heterogeneity and suboxic diagenesis in hemipelagic sediments of the Panama Basin , 1998 .

[35]  Christopher B. Field,et al.  Mangrove biodiversity and ecosystem function , 1998 .

[36]  D. DeMaster,et al.  Rapid subduction of organic matter by maldanid polychaetes on the North Carolina slope , 1997 .

[37]  J. Ogden,et al.  Ecosystem function and biodiversity on coral reefs , 1994 .

[38]  E. Powell,et al.  Microdistribution of interstitial meiofauna, oxygen and sulfide gradients, and the tubes of macro-infauna , 1987 .

[39]  K. Fauchald.  The diet of worms : A study of polychaete feeding guilds , 1979 .