Abstract
MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 328:155-160 (2006) - doi:10.3354/meps328155 Species-specific decomposition rates of beach-cast wrack in Barkley Sound, British Columbia, Canada Malte Mews1,*, Martin Zimmer1, Dennis E. Jelinski2,3 1Zoologisches Institut: Limnologie, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Olshausenstraße 40, 24109 Kiel, Germany 2School of Environmental Studies, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada 3Present address: Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, Bamfield, British Columbia V0R 1B0, Canada *Email: mmews@zoologie.uni-kiel.de ABSTRACT: The fate of subtidally drifting macrophytal detritus after its deposition ashore was studied based on short-term mass loss effects and species composition of beach-cast detritus. Different species of macroalgae and seagrass varied in both physical and microbial decay, as well as faunal decomposition rates. Their preferred status as food for detritivorous amphipods also varied. Thus, beach-cast detritus changed in species composition during detritus aging. Estimated turnover rates, based on daily input rates and mass loss rates, ranged from <1 d for Nereocystis luetkeana, Macrocystis integrifolia and Ulva spp. to roughly 30 d for Fucus spp. and Phyllospadix spp. Thus, the dynamics of nutrient fluxes within the marineterrestrial ecotone depends not only on the spatial distribution and amount of beach-cast detritus, but also on its species composition. KEY WORDS: Marineterrestrial ecotone · Beach-cast wrack · Decomposition · Macroalgae · Seagrass · Talitrid amphipods Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 328. Online publication date: December 20, 2006 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2006 Inter-Research.
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