The Role of Physical-Biological Coupling in the Benthic Boundary Layer under Megatidal Conditions: The Case of the Dominant Species of the Abra alba Community in the Eastern Baie de Seine (English Channel)

Abstract

Recent evidence has shown that postlarvae and juveniles of the most dominant species of theAbra alba community of the eastern Baie de Seine are able to re-enter the water column after larval settlement and undergo active and/or passive redistribution. However, few subtidal studies have been conducted to investigate and quantify the processes controlling the abundance of drifting postlarvae and juveniles. The purpose of this study was to verify the reproducibility or the variability of this phenomenon and to assess coupling between the intensity of drifting and that of bed shear stress, which is dependent on tidal currents, wave characteristics, and sediment features. This study was conducted in June and July 1995 at two sites in the bay, one located at the center of the muddy fine-sediment community and the other at its external border with the fine clean sands of theOphelia borealis community. At each site, suprabenthic sledge samples were taken during specific tidal conditions (low tide, slack water, and flood and ebb peaks) during a neap and a spring tide. Physical data (current velocity, turbidity, and suspended matter content) and meiobenthic samples were taken at the same time. Under megatidal conditions, drifting was a quantitatively important dispersal mechanism for at least 15 of the fine-sediment dominant species belonging to various groups such as polychaetes, molluscs (gastropods and bivalves), and echinoderms. The fluctuation in abundance of drifters was related to tidal range, tidal period, location of the site, and the recruitment dynamics. However, species differed strongly in theri response to hydrodynamical parameters. Three types of drifting species were observed: species that were only present in the water column (‘undet. cardiids’ and Mytilidae); species that were both drifting and present at the seaded (Abra alba, Phaxas pellucidus, Eteone picta, Mysella bidentata, Ophiura texturata, Owenia fusiformis, Pholoe minuta, Phyllodoce lineata, Pectinaria koreni, andSpisula subtruncata); species that were present at the seabed but did not drift during the sampling period (Acrocnida brachiata, Eteone longa, Eumida sanguinea, Glycinde normanni, Magelona mirabilis, Nemertean sp1,Nephtys sp.,Spiophanes bombyx, andTubulanus polymorphus). Each drifting pattern is related to eco-ethological species characteristics and may have very different consequences on population dynamics.