Effects of environmental stress on the community structure and productivity of salt marsh epiphytic communities. Progress report, September 1, 1976--August 31, 1977
Theoretical studies deal with trophic relationships between the small organisms at the base of detrital and planktonic food webs. These organisms are not casual mixtures of primary producers, decomposers, and small herbivores. No matter how transient and spatially disparate communities of small organisms seem to the uninformed, only certain combinations of organisms can function as meaningful communities. The strength of food web bonds is the result of the qualitative and quantitative molecular constituton of the prey, the needs of the consumer for quantities of particular molecules, and the ability of a consumer to recognize needed molecules and process them efficiently. The importance of strength of food web bonds was shown in a study of a harpacticoid copepod, Nitocra typica. This animal has very complex and graded nutritional requirements which seem to adapt it to feed on different species and strains of algae which are likely to occur in the community at different seasons. The results of this study suggest complexions in trophic dynamics which explain some of the diversity inherent in the closely packed niches of micro- and meiofauna in detrital food webs. An in situ incubation subproject aimed at testing the effects of water quality, heavy metals, and crude oil on natural assemblages of diatoms was also completed.
- Research Organization:
- City Coll., New York (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5336135
- Report Number(s):
- COO-3254-34
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Seasonality of community structure and carbon flow in Narragansett Bay sediments
Seasonal switching in the nutritional requirements of Nitocra typica: a harpacticoid copepod from salt marsh aufwuchs communities
Related Subjects
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALGAE
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
ARTHROPODS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOMASS
COMMUNITIES
COPEPODS
CRUSTACEANS
DETRITUS
DIATOMS
ECOSYSTEMS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FOOD CHAINS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
INVERTEBRATES
IRON
LEAD
MARSHES
METALS
MICROORGANISMS
NUTRITION
PETROLEUM
PLANKTON
PLANTS
POLLUTION
PRODUCTIVITY
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
WATER POLLUTION
WATER QUALITY