Abstract
A review of experiments in which large, epibenthic predators are excluded from soft-sediment marine benthic communities in unvegetated portions of estuaries and lagoons and a comparison of unvegetated areas with nearby grassbeds, where predators on the infauna are less effective, demonstrate that such soft- sediment systems, when freed from predation, usually exhibit 1) an increase in total density, 2) an increase in species richness, and 3) no tendency toward competitive exclusion by some dominant species. The currently accepted model of community organization, developed from experimental work in marine rocky intertidal communities, would predict that significant simplification of the community should occur as a consequence of intense competition in such a system where density had increased substantially following the removal of predators.
Four general types of explanation are developed to account for this anomalous behavior of the soft-sediment benthic communities. Firsts the experimental exclusions of predators may have been carried out for an insufficient length of time. Second, interference competition which produces rapid mortality on hard substrates, may be much less common in soft substrates because crushing of individuals is made difficult by the lack of adhesive contact in soft substrates and because the three- dimensionality of soft sediments permits some segregation along another resource axis. Interference in the form of overgrowth is also less common in soft sediments because the competitors best suited to utilize this strategy¿ colonial forms, are excluded by the mobility of the sediments and because the infaunal mode of existence prevents colonization onto “secondary space,” the surface of other organisms. Third, intense negative interactions between densely established adults and potentially colonizing larvae may be sufficient in the absence of predation to maintain the community density below carrying capacity and thereby prevent competitive exclusion. Fourth, if interference competition is rare among soft-sediment benthic organisms exploitation may be the dominant mode of competition in infaunal systems. Sluggish, cold-blooded marine invertebrates are tolerant of the stress of low food concentration because they have low basal metabolic rates and an ability to restrict growth. This low energy requirement may make competitive exclusion through exploitation competition an ineffective or extremely slow process.
Thus, although the process of interference competition as mediated by predation and physical disturbance evidently does not govern the structure of soft-sediment marine benthic communities in estuaries and lagoons, intense biological interactions, particularly selective predation and disturbance by epibenthic predators and predation by benthic organisms on colonizing larvae, retain an important organizing role. Interspecific competition also plays a significant role, but only through the preemption of resources by established individuals: competitive exclusion is apparently not achieved by invaders’ causing the mortality of established adults. However, additional observations on the natural history of infaunal organisms are needed to confirm the significance of adult-larval interactions and the ineffectiveness of adult-adult competitive interactions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ansell, A. D., 1961. Reproduction, growth and mortality of Venus striatula (Da Costa) in Karnes Bay, Millport, J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U. K. 41: 191–215.
Arntz, W. E., 1977. Results and problems of an “unsuccessful” benthos cage predation experiment (Western Baltic), In: Biology of Benthic Organisms, edited by B. F. Keegan, P. O. Ceidigh, P. J. S. Boaden, 31–44, Pergamon Press, N. Y.
Behrens, S., 1971. The distribution and abundance of the intertidal prosobranchs Littorina scutulata (Gould 1899) and L. sitkana (Fhilippi 1845 ), M.Sc. Thesis, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver.
Black, R., 1977. Population regulation in the intertidal limpet Fatelloida altioostata (Angas, 1865), Oecologia 30: 9–22.
Blegvad, H., 1928. Quantitative investigations of bottom invertebrates in the Limfjord 1910–1927 with special reference to the plaice food, Rep. Dan. Biol. Stn. 34: 33–52.
Bradley, W. H. and P. Cooke, 1959. Living and ancient populations of the clam Gemma gemma in a Maine coast tidal flat, Fishery Bull. Fish. Wildl. Serv. U. S. 58: 305–334.
Breen, P. A., 1972. Seasonal migration and population regulation in the limpet Acmea (Collisella) digitalis, Veliger 15: 133–141.
Brenchley, G. A., 1978. Mobility modes of marine infauna: distribution and composition of infaunal assemblages, Bull. Ecol. Soc. 59: 62.
Brooks, J. L. and S. Dodson, 1965. Predation, body size, and composition of plankton, Science 150: 28–35.
Caswell, H., 1978. Predator-mediated coexistence: a nonequili- brium model, Amer. Nat. 112: 127–154.
Choat, J. H., 1977. The influence of sessile organisms on the population biology of three species of acmeid limpets, J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 26: 1–26.
Commito, J. A., 1976. Predation, Competitions Life-history Strategies, and the Regulation of Estuarine Soft-bottom Community Structure, Ph.D. Thesis, Duke Univ., Durham.
Connell, J. H., 1961a. The influence of interspecific com-petition and other factors on the distribution of the barnacle Chthamalus stellatus, Ecology 42: 710–723.
Connell, J. H., 1961b. Effects of competition, predation by Thais lapillus, and other factors on natural populations of the barnacle Balanus balanoides, Ecol. Monogr. 31: 61–104.
Connell, J. H., 1978. Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs, Science 199: 1302–1310.
Dayton, P. K., 1971. Competition, disturbance and community organization: the provision and subsequent utilization of space in a rocky intertidal community, Ecol. Monogr 41: 351–389.
Dodson, S. I., 1970. Complementary feeding niches sustained by size-selective predation, Limnol. Oceanogr. 15: 131–137.
Frank, P. W., 1965. The biodemography of an intertidal snail population, Ecology 46: 831–844.
Gray, J. S., 1974. Animal-sediment relationships, Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev. 12: 223–261.
Hancock, D. A., 1970. The role of predators and parasites in a fishery for the mollusc Cardium edule L., Proc. Adv. Study Inst. Dynamics Numbers Popul. (Oosterbeek, 1970 ): 419–439.
Harper, J. L., 1969. The role of predation in vegetational diversity, Brookhaven Symp. Biol. 22: 48–62.
Holland, A. F., N. K. Mountford, J. A. Mihursky, M. Hiegel, and R. K. Kaumeyer, 1980. The influence of large mobile bottom-feeding predators on infaunal abundance in the upper Chesapeake Bay, Ms. in preparation.
Jackson, J. B. C., 1977. Competition on marine hard substrata: the adaptive significance of solitary and colonial strategies, Amer. Nat. 111: 743–767.
Johnson, R. G., 1973. Conceptual models of benthic communities, In: Models in Paleobiology, edited by T. J. M. Schopf, 148–159, Freeman, Cooper, and Co., San Francisco.
Kristensen, I., 1957. Differences in density and growth in a cockle population in the Dutch Wadden Sea, Archs. Neerl. Zool. 12: 351–453.
Lee, H., 1978. Predation and Opportunism in Tropical Soft- bottom Communities, Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Levinton, J. S., 1977. Ecology of shallow water deposit-feeding communities Quisset Harbor, Massachusetts, In: Ecology of Marine Benthos, edited by B. C. Coull, 191–228, Univ. of South Carolina Press, Columbia.
Levinton, J. S. and R. K. Bambach, 1975. A comparative study of Silurian and Recent deposit-feeding bivalve communities, Paleobiol. 1: 97–124.
Lubchenco, J., 1978. Plant species diversity in a marine intertidal community: importance of herbivore food pre-ference and algal competitive abilities, Amer. Nat. 112: 23–39.
McCall, P. L., 1977. Community patterns and adaptive strategies of the infaunal benthos of Long Island Sound, J. Mar. Res. 35: 221–266.
May R. M., 1973. Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems, 235 pp., Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, N. J.
Menge, B. A., 1976. Organization of the New England rocky intertidal community: role of predation, competition, and environmental heterogeneity, Ecol. Monogr. 46: 355–393.
Menge, B. A. and J. P. Sutherland, 1976. Species diversity gradients: synthesis of the roles of predation, competition, and temporal heterogeneity, Amer. Nat. 110: 351–369.
Mills, E. L., 1969. The community concept in marine zoology, with comments on continua and instability in some marine communities: a review, J. Fish. Res. Bd Canada 26: 1415–1428.
Myers, A. C., 1977. Sediment processing in a marine subtidal sandy bottom community: II. Biological consequences, Mar. Res. 35: 633–647.
Naqvi, S. M. Z., 1968. Effects of predation on infaunal invertebrates of Alligator Harbor, Florida, Gulf Res. Rep. 2: 313–321.
Nelson, W. G., 1978. The Community Ecology of Seagrass Amphipods Predation and Community Structure, Life Historiesand Biogeography, Ph.D. Thesis, Duke Univ., Durham.
Ohba, S., 1956. Effects of population density on mortality and growth in an experimental culture of a bivalve, Venerupis semidecussata, Biol. J. Okayama Univ. 3: 169–173.
Orth, R. J., 1977. The importance of sediment stability in seagrass communities, In: Ecology of Marine Benthos edited by B. C. Coull, 281–300, Univ. South Carolina Press, Columbia.
Paine, R. T., 1966. Food web complexity and species diversity, Amer. Nat. 100: 65–75.
Peterson, C. H., 1977. Competitive organization of the soft- bottom macrobenthic communities of southern California lagoons, Mar. Biol. 43: 343–359.
Peterson, C. H., 1979. The effects of predation and intra- and interspecific competition on the population biology of two infaunal, suspension-feeding bivalves, Protothaca staminea and Chione undatella, Ms. in preparation.
Reise, K., 1977a. Predation pressure and community structure of an intertidal soft-bottom fauna, In: Biology of Benthic Organisms, edited by B. F. Keegan, P. O. Ceidigh, and P. J. S. Boaden, 513–519, Pergamon Press, N. Y.
Reise, K., 1977b. Predator exclusion experiments in an inter tidal mud flat, Helgoländer wiss. Meeresunters. 30: 263–271.
Rhoads, D. C., P. L. McCall, and J. Y. Yingst, 1978. Disturbance and production on the estuarine seafloor, Amer. Scientist 66: 577–586.
Rhoads, D. C. and D. K. Young, 1970. The influence of deposit- feeding organisms on sediment stability and community trophic structure, J. Mar. Res. 28: 150–178.
Ronan, T. E., Jr., 1975. Structural and Paleo ecological Aspects of a Modem Marine Soft-sediment Community: An Experimental Field Study, Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. California, Davis.
Rowe, G. T., 1971. Benthic biomass and surface productivity, In: Fertility of the Sea, edited by J. D. Costlow, 441–454, Gordon and Breach Sci. Publ. 2, New York.
Sanders, H. L., E. M. Goudsmit, E. L. Mills, and G. E. Hampson, 1962. A study of the intertidal fauna of Barnstable Harbor, Massachusetts, Limnol. Oceanogr. 7: 63–79.
Schneider, D., 1978. Equalisation of prey numbers by migratory shorebirds, Nature 271: 353–354.
Segerstrale, S. G., 1962. Investigations on Baltic populations of the bivalve Macoma baltica (L.). Part II. What are the reasons for the periodic failure of recruitment and the scarcity of Macoma in the deeper waters of the inner Baltic?, Commentât. Biol. 24: 1–26.
Simon, J. L. and D. M. Dauer, 1977. Reestablishment of a benthic community following natural defaunation, In: Ecology of Marine Benthos, edited by B. C. Coull, 139–154, Univ. South Carolina Press, Columbia.
Slatkin, M., 1974. Competition and regional coexistence, Ecology 55: 128–134.
Sprules, W. G., 1972. Effects of size-selective predation and food competition on high altitude zooplankton communities, Ecology 53: 375–386.
Stiven, A. E. and E. J. Kuenzler, 1979. The response of two salt marsh molluscs, Littorina irrorata and Geukensia demissa, to field manipulations of density and Spartina litter, Ecol. Monogr. 49: (in press).
Sutherland, J. P., 1970. Dynamics of high and low populations of the limpet, Acmea scabra (Gould), Ecol. Monogr. 40: 169–188.
Sutherland, J. P., 1974. Multiple stable points in natural communities, Amer. Nat. 108: 859–873.
Sutherland, J. P., 1977. The effect of Schizoporella (Ectoprocta) removal on the fouling community at Beaufort, North Carolina, USA, In: Ecology of Marine Benthos, edited by B. C. Coull, 155–176, Univ. South Carolina Press, Columbia.
Thayer, G. W., S. M. Adams, and M. W. LaCroix, 1975. Structural and functional aspects of a recently established Zostera marina community, In: Estuarine Research, Vol. I. Chemistry, Biology and the Estuarine System, 518–540, Academic Press, N. Y.
Thorson, G., 1966. Some factors influencing the recruitment and establishment of marine benthic communities, Netherlands J. Sea Res. 3: 267–293.
Underwood, A. J., 1976. Food competition between age-classes in the intertidal neritacean Nerita atramentosa Reeve (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia), J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 23: 145–154.
Virnstein, R. W., 1977. The importance of predation by crabs and fishes on benthic infauna in Chesapeake Bay, Ecology 58: 1199–1217.
Virnstein, R. W., 1978. Predator caging experiments in soft sediments: caution advised, In: Estuarine Interactions, edited by M. L. Wiley, 261–273, Academic Press, New York.
Virnstein, R. W., 1979. Predation on estuarine infauna: response patterns of component species, Estuaries 2: (in press).
Warme, J. E.,1971. Paleoecological aspects of a modern coastal lagoon, Univ. Calif. Pubs. Geol. Sci. 87: 1–131.
Whitlatch, R. B., 1976. Seasonality, Species Diversity and Patterns of Resource Utilization in a Deposit-feeding Community, Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of Chicago, Chicago.
Wiltse, W. I., 1977. Effects of predation by Polinices duplicatus (Gastropoda: Naticidae) on a sand-flat community, Biol. Bull. 153: 450–451.
Woodin, S. A., 1974. Polychaete abundance patterns in a marine soft-sediment environment: the importance of biological interactions, Ecol. Monogr. 44: 171–187.
Woodin, S. A., 1976. Adult-larval interactions in dense infaunal assemblages: patterns of abundance, J. Mar. Res. 34: 25–41.
Woodin, S. A., 1978. Refuges, disturbance and community structure: a marine soft-bottom example, Ecology 59: 274 - 284.
Young, D. K., M. A. Buzas, and M. W. Young, 1976. Species densities of macrobenthos associated with seagrasses: a field experimental study of predation, J. Mar. Res. 34: 577–592.
Young, D. K. and M. W. Young, 1977. Community structure of the macrobenthos associated with seagrass of the Indian River estuary, Florida, In: Ecology of Marine Benthos, edited by B. C. Coull, 359–382, Univ. of South Carolina Press, Columbia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1979 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Peterson, C.H. (1979). Predation, Competitive Exclusion, and Diversity in the Soft-Sediment Benthic Communities of Estuaries and Lagoons. In: Livingston, R.J. (eds) Ecological Processes in Coastal and Marine Systems. Marine Science, vol 10. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9146-7_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9146-7_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-9148-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-9146-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive