Predation as a mechanism of interference within infauna in shallow brackish water soft bottoms; experiments with an infauna predator, Nereis diversicolor O.F. Müller

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Abstract

Field and laboratory experiments were used to determine the importance of the polychaete Nereis diversicolor O.F. Müller in structuring a soft-bottom community in the northern Baltic proper. In the field, areas of the natural bottom were enclosed with cylinders, which also enclosed artificially elevated polychaete densities. During the experimental period, Nereis reduced the abundance of the most dominant species, Chironomidae larvae, and thus caused the diversity to increase. In the laboratory, the effects of Nereis as a predator vs. disturber were tested. Nereis was shown to be a potential predator on all of the prey species tested: Chironomidae larvae, Corophium volutalor (Pallas), and small Macoma balthica (L.). Higher numbers of Nereis and a mechanical disturbance source caused increased emigration of Corophium; lower densities of the polychaete had little or no impact on the emigration of the prey organism. Nereis is suggested to be an important structuring factor (through active predation and disturbance) in this ecosystem.

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