- Benthic Ecosystems
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Stabilizing properties of a high-biomass benthic community in a fluctuating ecosystem
Helgoländer wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen volume 30, pages 485–494 (1977)
Abstract
The shallow Northern Adriatic Sea is subject to strong seasonal and short-time fluctuations in climatic parameters and production. A high-biomass benthic epifauna community on sublittoral soft bottoms with biomass values of 370±73 g wet weight m−2, which consists of almost 90% filter feeders provides a storage compartment. This storage compartment exerts a regulatory effect on the total system metabolism through controlling watercolumn biomass and converting it to macrofauna biomass with a lower respiration: biomass ratio. Special adaptations of the brittle starOphiothrix quinquemaculata, the dominant species, to strong and rapid changes in temperature and oxygen saturation are discussed.
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Ott, J., Fedra, K. Stabilizing properties of a high-biomass benthic community in a fluctuating ecosystem. Helgolander Wiss. Meeresunters 30, 485–494 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02207856
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02207856