Rl. Marinelli, EFFECTS OF BURROW VENTILATION ON ACTIVITIES OF A TEREBELLID POLYCHAETE AND SILICATE REMOVAL FROM SEDIMENT PORE WATERS, Limnology and oceanography, 39(2), 1994, pp. 303-317
The behavior and activities of a terebellid polychacte, Eupolymnia het
erobranchia, in the presence of artificially irrigated tubes and the e
ffects of Eupolymnia and artificial irrigation on silicate removal fro
m sediment pore waters were examined in the laboratory. Eupolymnia bui
lt more tubes and longer tubes in sediments containing artificially ir
rigated tubes relative to unventilated sediments. Moreover, worm tubes
were located closer to artificially ventilated tubes than expected by
chance. Silicate fluxes were positively related to the dry weight of
worms and to the number of tubes in sediments when they consisted of e
ither Eupolymnia tubes or artificially irrigated tubes alone. However
when tube types were mixed (Eupolymnia + artificially irrigated tubes)
, silicate fluxes were lower than in sediments containing artificially
ventilated tubes alone. Thus, worm behavior was altered by the presen
ce of artificially irrigated tubes. In addition, interactions between
worms and artificially ventilated tubes served to reduce silicate flux
relative to sediments containing artificially ventilated tubes only.