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Early Diagenesis of Organic Matter and the Nutritional Value of Sediment

  • Conference paper
Ecology of Marine Deposit Feeders

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes on Coastal and Estuarine Studies ((COASTAL,volume 31))

Abstract

The quantity, quality, and spatial distribution of particulate organic matter (POM) in the bioturbated zone of a sedimentary deposit are intimately related to the size and composition of the deposit-feeding community. Fresh allochthonous POM from the water column and autochthonous POM from epibenthic primary production are incorporated into the deposit by burial and through geophysical and biological mixing. Although the quality and quantity of organic materials produced at or settling onto the sediment surface determine benthic secondary production, subsurface particle transport determines how metabolizable POM is distributed within the deposit. Inasmuch as particle transport itself is often dominated by the mechanical activities of deposit-feeding macrofauna (Rhoads 1974; Aller 1982; Rice 1986), the biomass, species composition, and feeding depths of the deposit-feeding community and the standing crop and vertical distribution of metabolizable organic matter are fundamentally interdependent.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland, Solomons, Maryland, 20688, USA

    Donald L. Rice

  2. Science Applications International Corp., Newport, Rhode Island, 02840, USA

    Donald C. Rhoads

Authors
  1. Donald L. Rice
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  2. Donald C. Rhoads
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York, 11794, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Glenn Lopez

  2. College of Oceanography, Oregon State University, 97331, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Gary Taghon

  3. Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York, 11794, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Jeffrey Levinton

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

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Rice, D.L., Rhoads, D.C. (1989). Early Diagenesis of Organic Matter and the Nutritional Value of Sediment. In: Lopez, G., Taghon, G., Levinton, J. (eds) Ecology of Marine Deposit Feeders. Lecture Notes on Coastal and Estuarine Studies, vol 31. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7671-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7671-2_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-97001-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-7671-2

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