Abstract
Because the rate of microbial degradation differs for the various sources contributing to the detrital pool in marine systems, their availability to detritivores might also vary. Carbon-14 tracer experiments were used to compare differences in the oxidation and net incorporation by the polychaete Capitella capitata of a nitrogenrich, easily-decomposable detritus derived from the red macrophytic algae Gracilaria sp. versus a nitrogen-poor, decay-resistant detritus derived from the eelgrass Zostera marina. The net incorporation of Gracilaria sp. detritus by C. capitata reached a maximum (91 μg dry weight of detritus/mg dry weight of worm/day) after only 14 days of decomposition, whereas that of z. marina detritus equaled this level after 30 days of aging, but continued to increase to 375 μg at 180 days. The oxidation rate of Gracilaria sp. detritus was consistently higher (peak of 61 mg dry weight of detritus/day at 30 day-aging) than z. marina detritus, which reached this level only after 180 days of aging. The presence or absence of C. capitata did not significantly alter the oxidation rate. The above difference might be attributed to a rapid exploitation and mineralization by bacteria of the more available Gracilaria sp. detritus, but a slow, “controlled” utilization by the microbes of the less available Z. marina detritus, especially during the early stage of decomposition. This would allow maximum exploitation of the substrate by macroconsumers, resulting in more of the detrital resource being tied up in detritivore biomass rather than being rapidly mineralized to CO2. Difference in the length of aging at which various detrital sources become available to detritivores could result in a temporal partitioning of food resources and should be considered in attempting to understand the dynamics of detrital-based food chains.
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Communicated by M.R. Tripp, Newark
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Tenore, K.R. Utilization of aged detritus derived from different sources by the polychaete Capitella capitata . Mar. Biol. 44, 51–55 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00386904
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00386904