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Analysis of upwelling radiation (spectral reflectance) by remote sensing may provide valuable information on the nature and distribution of the primary producers, the microphytobenthos, on intertidal mudflat systems. Spatial and temporal variation in the spectral reflectance signal (400-900 nm) from the surface of an exposed intertidal mudflat was investigated in relation to the density and vertical position of microphytobenthos assemblages within the sediment. Spatial measurements were obtained from areas of sediment colonized by different assemblages of microphytobenthos (mainly mixtures of diatoms and euglenids). In addition, a station was selected to examine temporal changes in spectral reflectance (corrected for variations in ambient light) over an exposure period. It was shown that the spectral reflectance signal varied, depending on the pigment compliment and biomass of the surface assemblages of microphytobenthos. The qualitative variation in composition of the assemblages visualized by low-temperature scanning electron microscopy was confirmed by analysis of species composition (light microscopy) and by pigment fingerprinting (diode array high-performance liquid chromatography [HPLC]). Time-series analysis showed that the migration of cells to the surface of the sediment during a daytime emersion period rapidly changed the optical properties of the sediment surface. Analysis of sediment pigment content was conducted using standard surface scrapes (0.5-cm depth) and a high resolution sectioning technique (200-µm layers). The migration influence was only detected by fine-scale analysis of pigments. This was demonstrated by a step-wise elimination analysis, which showed that correlations between the absorbance characteristics of the sediment and pigment content improved as premigration data were excluded. Maximum light penetration into the natural sediment was of the order of 2 mm under light conditions comparable with ambient levels. Two main conclusions were drawn from this study:(1) interpretation of spectral reflectance data must be consistent with knowledge of the ecology and behavior (cyclic migration patterns) of intertidal microphytobenthos, and (2) ground truthing of pigment-related signals from intertidal flats should be conducted on a scale relevant to the process of spectral reflectance from sediments. The implications of these findings are discussed.

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As field determinations take much effort, it would be useful to be able to predict easily the coefficients describing the functional response of free-living predators, the function relating food intake rate to the abundance of food organisms in the environment. As a means easily to parameterise an individual-based model of shorebird Charadriiformes populations, we attempted this for shorebirds eating macro-invertebrates. Intake rate is measured as the ash-free dry mass (AFDM) per second of active foraging ; i.e. excluding time spent on digestive pauses and other activities, such as preening. The present and previous studies show that the general shape of the functional response in shorebirds eating approximately the same size of prey across the full range of prey density is a decelerating rise to a plateau, thus approximating the Holling type II (' disc equation ') formulation. But field studies confirmed that the asymptote was not set by handling time, as assumed by the disc equation, because only about half the foraging time was spent in successfully or unsuccessfully attacking and handling prey, the rest being devoted to searching.A review of 30 functional responses showed that intake rate in free-living shorebirds varied independently of prey density over a wide range, with the asymptote being reached at very low prey densities (<150/m x2 ). Accordingly, most of the many studies of shorebird intake rate have probably been conducted at or near the asymptote of the functional response, suggesting that equations that predict intake rate should also predict the asymptote.A multivariate analysis of 468 ' spot ' estimates of intake rates from 26 shorebirds identified ten variables, representing prey and shorebird characteristics, that accounted for 81% of the variance in logarithm-transformed intake rate. But four-variables accounted for almost as much (77.3%), these being bird size, prey size, whether the bird was an oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus eating mussels Mytilus edulis, or breeding. The four variable equation under-predicted, on average, the observed 30 estimates of the asymptote by 11.6 %, but this discrepancy was reduced to 0.2% when two suspect estimates from one early study in the 1960s were removed. The equation therefore predicted the observed asymptote very successfully in 93% of cases.We conclude that the asymptote can be reliably predicted from just four easily measured variables. Indeed, if the birds are not breeding and are not oystercatchers eating mussels, reliable predictions can be obtained using just two variables, bird and prey sizes. A multivariate analysis of 23 estimates of the half-asymptote constant suggested they were smaller when prey were small but greater when the birds were large, especially in oystercatchers. The resulting equation could be used to predict the half-asymptote constant, but its predictive power has yet to be tested.As well as predicting the asymptote of the functional response, the equations will enable research workers engaged in many areas of shore...

Summary1. Above a threshold density of I 100 birds ha -1 , strong interference occurred between redshank Tringa totanus (Linnaeus) feeding by sight on the amphipod crustacean Corophium volutator (Pallas). No aggressive interactions occurred between the birds and the probable cause was prey depression. 2. Redshank fed in a square metre of mud that had recently been exploited by another redshank much less often than would be expected by chance. By avoiding areas where prey would have been recently exploited, the feeding rate of redshank was up to three times faster than it would have been had they not avoided other foraging redshank. 3. Bar-tailed godwit fed in a square metre of mud that had been recently exploited by another godwit much more often than would be expected by chance in randomly moving birds. They tended to¯ock while foraging and showed no tendency to avoid areas where prey would have been recently exploited. 4. There was no evidence that interference occurred between bar-tailed godwit Limosa lapponica (Linnaeus) feeding on the polychaete lugworm Arenicola marina (Linnaeus) at densities below 300 birds ha -1 , even though aggressive interactions occurred between birds.