Population persistence of Capitella sp (Polychaeta; Capitellidae) on a mud flat subject to environmental disturbance by organic enrichment

Abstract

The exclusive domination of several sibling species of the polychaete complex Capitella capitata in organically enriched areas has been recognized to reflect their opportunisbc characteristics, especially produchon of planktonic larvae with widespread dispersal ability. In the present study it was found that a population of Capitella sp. in an organically enriched mud-flat habitat subject to environmental disturbance was, by contrast, maintained without reliance on recolonization from other habitats throughout 1 yr. Although the population declined markedly after the development of reducing conditions in the sediment in early summer, very small patches with extremely low densities (< 100 ind. m-') were preserved in restricted areas with moderate organic enrichment within a gradient of organic enrichment. These remnant populations rapidly reconstructed dense patches in the most organically enriched areas during recovery of sediment conditions from late autumn to winter. Although the most enriched areas allowed CapiteUa sp. to establish dense patches, these areas were accessible only during parts of the year. Nevertheless, the distribution was concentrated in enriched areas, since this depositfeeder required organically enriched sediment for normal growth. The population size structure was apparently influenced by the level of sediment organic matter, and Individuals large enough for reproduction were rare in less enriched areas. Thus, the association with organically enriched sediment and the population dynamics, as characterized by the dramatic seasonal fluctuations in population size, are attributable to the physiological requirement of this species for organically enriched sediment, the dramatic seasonal fluctuations in the carrying capacity of habitats subject to catastrophic environmental disturbance, and the extraordinarly large potential of Cap~tella sp. for rapid populat~on growth.

Sewage impact on the composition and distribution of Polychaeta associated to intertidal mussel beds of the Mar del Plata rocky shore, Argentina

“…Spionid and capitellid polychaetes in general, and the Capitella complex in particular, have largely been used as classical indicators of organically enriched sediments (REISH, 1972;TSUTSUMI, 1990;POCKLINGTON & WELLS, 1992). In Denmark, the dominance of C. capitata and Polydora ciliata Webster, 1879 among Mytilus edulis L., 1758 banks was related to the local hydrodynamics, affecting sedimentation or increasing faeces and pseudofaeces of mussels (SVANE & SETYOBUDIANDI, 1996).…”

“…Polychaetes have been used in bioassays, to monitor toxic compounds, and as pollution indicators, from community or populational levels to species level (POCKLINGTON & WELLS, 1992;REISH & GERLINGER, 1997). The presence or absence of some indicator species or even families are currently known as pollution indicators, in particular the presence of Capitella ELÍAS, RIVERO & VALLARINO capitata (Fabricius, 1780) or some spionids (TSUTSUMI, 1990), or the absence of the genus Lumbrineris Blainville, 1828 (RYGGS, 1985).…”

Investigation of the fate and effects of acetyl cedrene on Capitella teleta and sediment bacterial community

“…Seven worms were added to each sample in the worm treatments to give a density of roughly 2000 worms m −2 in each crystallization beaker (diameter = 68 mm), which is within the range of population densities found in the field (Méndez et al 1997;Tsutsumi 1987Tsutsumi , 1990. Fourteen replicate crystallization beakers were prepared for each of the four treatments.…”

“…I (Blake et al 2009), was employed in this study. C. teleta is described as opportunistic and has a widespread distribution (Grassle 1980;Grassel and Grassel 1976) with population densities in the range of <100-400,000 worms m −2 (Méndez et al 1997;Tsutsumi 1987Tsutsumi , 1990. Several studies have examined the effects of chemical compounds on worm growth rate, sediment processing (Madsen et al 1997;Méndez et al 2001;Selck et al 1998Selck et al , 1999Selck et al , 2003, mortality (Méndez 2006) and life-history traits (Linke-Gamenick et al 1999, 2000aPedersen et al 2009;Ramskov et al 2009).…”

Sewage-induced disturbance on polychaetes inhabiting intertidal mussel beds of <i>Brachidontes rodriguezii</i> off Mar del Plata (SW Atlantic, Argentina).

“…Polychaetes have been used in bioassays, monitoring of toxic compounds, and as pollution indicators, from the community or population level to the species level (Pocklington and Wells, 1992;Reish and Gerlinger, 1997). Presence or absence of some species, or even families, is known to be an indicator of contamination, in particular the presence of the Capitella complex or some spionids (Tsutsumi, 1990), or the absence of the genus Lumbrineris (Ryggs, 1985). Polychaetes associated with intertidal mussel beds of Brachidontes rodriguezii show classic behaviour in relation to an organic gradient, and have been successfully used as indicator species for assessing organic pollution of the SW Atlantic shore of Argentina (Elias et al, 2003).…”