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Recruitment of the infaunal bivalve Soletellina Alba (Lamark,1818) (Bivalvia: Psammobiidae) in response to different sediment types and water depths within the intermittently open Hopkins River estuary
journal contribution
posted on 2006-07-11, 00:00 authored by Ty MatthewsTy Matthews, Peter FairweatherStudies examining recruitment processes for soft-sediment macroinvertebrate fauna in intermittent estuaries are rare and most studies of active habitat selection have been tested in the laboratory rather than the field. The present field study examined whether recruitment of the infaunal bivalve Soletellina alba was influenced by water depth and sediment particle size in the intermittent Hopkins River estuary, southern Australia. The number of recruits in sediment trays differed between water depths, but active habitat selection was not evident across treatments of varying sediment particle size. The use of sediments with varying particle sizes also provided an opportunity to identify potential discontinuities in body-size distributions of recruits associated with varying habitat architecture. The length (mm) of recruits was converted to the same scale used to express sediment particle size (i.e. phi units: phi = − log2 of sediment particle size). The size of recruits differed across water depths, but did not differ across treatments with fine (phi = 3) versus coarse (phi = 1) sediment, and no relationships were apparent between bivalve size and sediments consisting of varying particle size. These patterns of recruitment do not correspond with the distribution of adult S. alba within the Hopkins River estuary. Previous sampling has shown that abundances of juvenile and adult S. alba are variable across time, site and water depth, but are often greater at the deeper water depth (1.05 m below the Australian Height Datum). However, recruitment during the present study was greatest at the shallower water depth (0.05 m below AHD), and the apparent absence of active habitat selection suggests that the distribution of adults is unlikely to be attributable to differences in recruitment associated with sediments of varying particle size.
History
Journal
Journal of experimental marine biology and ecologyVolume
334Issue
2Pagination
206 - 218Publisher
Elsevier BVLocation
Amsterdam, NetherlandsPublisher DOI
ISSN
0022-0981Language
engNotes
Available online 6 March 2006.Publication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2006, Elsevier B.V.Usage metrics
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No categories selectedKeywords
benthosbody-sizehabitat architecturemolluscpost-larval settlementpost-settlement movementseasonally closed estuarysoft sedimentsScience & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineEcologyMarine & Freshwater BiologyEnvironmental Sciences & EcologyBODY-SIZE DISTRIBUTIONSMACOMA-BALTHICA LHABITAT SELECTIONJUVENILE BIVALVESSETTLING LARVAETIDAL FLATSSPATIAL SCALESWADDEN SEAAUSTRALIAINVERTEBRATES
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