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The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 1729

Guido Vranken, Peter M.J. Herman, Magda Vincx, and C. Heip; A re-evalution of marine nematode productivity. Hydrobiologia 135:193-196, 1986

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Nematodes are the most abundant multicellular animals in marine sediments but their role in the benthos has not been properly quantified yet. In nearly all energy-flow budgets of marine systems their annual production P is given a about nine times their mean biomass B and their part in the total energy-flow is consequently estimates as anywhere between 3 and 30% of the total (carbon) input in the benthic system. Our laboratory experiments demonstrate that nematode productivity is much higher than P/B ~9 per year and may reach values of over 60 for bacterial grazers. To obtain more reliable estimates for field populations we propose a regression equation relating egg-to-egg development time [Tmin] to temperature (t) and adult female weight (W in µg wet weight); log [Tmin]=2.202-0.0461t+0.627log W. When multiplied by the constant biomass turnover per generation (P/B) gen=3, development rate 1/[Tmin] is a good predictor of daily P/B. This method was applied to two series of field data. A rather stable community from a sublittoral mud in the North Sea had an annual P/B=20. A less stable Aufwuchs community from Sargassum in Japan had an annual P/B=58.