E. Bonsdorff et al., STRUCTURING ZOOBENTHOS - THE IMPORTANCE OF PREDATION, SIPHON CROPPINGAND PHYSICAL DISTURBANCE, Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology, 192(1), 1995, pp. 125-144
In a set of field and laboratory experiments, the relative importance
of (1) direct predation (measured as mortality in the prey populations
), (2) physical disturbance of the sediment (sand and mud), and the co
mbined effects of disturbance and predation, and (3) sublethal siphon
cropping, were tested on an infaunal food web in the low-saline northe
rn Baltic Sea. The predators used (Saduria entomon and Crangon crangon
) are the major epibenthic crustacean predators of the northern Baltic
coastal waters. and the prey organism in the experiments (the bivalve
Macoma balthica) is, by frequency of occurrence and by biomass, the d
ominant infaunal organism among the zoobenthos. In the field the preda
tory effect of Saduria was tested on the entire infaunal community. Th
e field experiment on direct predation by Saduria on the entire infaun
al assemblage significantly reduced the density of the polychaete Mana
yunkia aestuarina. Aquarium experiments show that although direct pred
ation by Saduria or physical sediment disturbance alone had little eff
ects on juvenile (< 3 mm) Macoma, the combined effects of these factor
s were significant, and more important than the sum of the two single
factors, demonstrating synergistic negative effects. Experiments with
Saduria and Crangon in relation to adult (7-17 mm) Macoma showed suble
thal effects on length-weight relationships and on a general index of
condition in the mussels. The experiments illustrate that intricate co
mbinations of biotic and physical (environmental) mechanisms may play
important roles in the organization of zoobenthic communities.