Skip to main content
Publications | Persons | Institutes | Projects
[ report an error in this record ]basket (0): add | show Print this page

Spatial distribution of detrital resources determines the outcome of competition between bacteria and a facultative detritivorous worm
Van Nugteren, P.; Herman, P.M. J.; Moodley, L.; Middelburg, J.J.; Vos, M.; Heip, C.H.R. (2009). Spatial distribution of detrital resources determines the outcome of competition between bacteria and a facultative detritivorous worm. Limnol. Oceanogr. 54(5): 1413-1419. https://dx.doi.org/10.4319/lo.2009.54.5.1413
In: Limnology and Oceanography. American Society of Limnology and Oceanography: Waco, Tex., etc. ISSN 0024-3590; e-ISSN 1939-5590, more
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Authors 

Authors  Top 
  • Van Nugteren, P.
  • Herman, P.M. J.
  • Moodley, L., more
  • Middelburg, J.J., more
  • Vos, M.
  • Heip, C.H.R., more

Abstract
    Macrobenthic deposit feeders and bacteria compete for the same detrital food resources. We hypothesize that the spatial scale at which food is distributed in the sediment is an important factor determining the outcome of this competition. Macrobenthic deposit feeders are better adapted for fast consumption of food in concentrated patches, whereas diluted food can only be exploited by bacteria. This hypothesis was tested in an experiment in which a fixed quantity of isotopically labeled algal detritus was offered to a natural bacterial community and the polychaete worm Nereis (=Hediste) diversicolor, either as a concentrated patch or mixed through the sediment matrix. Worms dominated food uptake in the concentrated treatment, while bacterial uptake was much greater in the diluted treatment. The experiment demonstrated scale-based niche differentiation between these taxonomically distant groups. It also showed that worms spatially redistributed food and made it available to bacteria in that way. Together, these mechanisms may stimulate stable co-existence through a scale-based partitioning of resources.

All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy Top | Authors