Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-7tdvq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-14T05:19:45.313Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Formation and paleontologic recognition of structures caused by marine annelids

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Thomas E. Ronan Jr.
Thomas E. Ronan Jr.*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California; Los Angeles, California 90024
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Laboratory and field collected sediments were x-rayed to document the array of biogenic sedimentary structures produced by the burrowing and feeding behavior of six species of marine intertidal annelid (Glycera robusta, Nephtys caecoides, Pectinaria californiensis, Notomastus magnus, Eupolymnia crescentis, and Cirriformia spirabrancha). Polychaete burrows were found to vary greatly in structural complexity with both errant (N. magnus) and relatively sessile forms (C. spirabrancha) producing a variety of biogenic structures. Sediment mixing by the tentacle-feeding polychaete C. spirabrancha was observed by sequentially x-raying an experimental field enclosure stratified with an opaque substance. The experiment demonstrates that tentacle-feeding polychaetes can influence the topography of the sediment-water interface and transport substantial amounts of near surface material downward.

Criteria by which fossil biogenic sedimentary structures, presumably produced by soft-bodied organisms, can be assigned a feeding function have been advanced by Walker (1972). Some of the assumptions inherent in feeding function analysis were applied, with varying degrees of success, to the biogenic structures of modern soft-sediment polychaetes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , Fall 1977 , pp. 389 - 403
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Bouma, A. H. 1964. Sampling and treatment of unconsolidated sediments for the study of internal structures. J. Sed. Petrol. 34:349–354.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, C. K. 1971a. Bathymetry and paleoecology of the Ouachita Geosyncline of southeastern Oklahoma as determined from trace fossils. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull. 55:34–50.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, C. K. 1971b. Morphology and ethology of trace fossils from the Ouachita Mountains, southeast Oklahoma. J. Paleontol. 45:212–246.Google Scholar
Clark, R. B. and Haderlie, E. C. 1962. The distribution of Nephtys californiensis and Nephtys caecoides on the California coast. J. Anim. Ecol. 31:339–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cullen, D. J. 1973. Bioturbation of superficial sediments by interstitial meiobenthos. Nature. 242:323–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenchel, T. 1971. The reduction-oxidation properties of marine sands and the vertical distribution of the microfauna. Troisieme Symp. European de Biol. Mar. Suppl. 22:509–521.Google Scholar
George, J. D. 1964. The life history of the cirratulid worm, Cirriformia tentaculata, on an intertidal mudflat. J. mar. biol. Assoc. U.K. 44:47–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldring, R. 1964. Trace fossils and the sedimentary surface in shallow-water marine sediments. Dev. in Sedimentol. 1:135–143.Google Scholar
Howard, J. D. 1968. X-radiography for examination of burrowing in sediments by marine organisms. Sedimentology. 11:247–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, J. D. 1971. Trace fossils as paleoecological tools. Pp. 184–212. In: Valentine, J. W., ed. Recent Advances in Paleoecology and Ichnology. Am. Geol. Inst. Short Course.Google Scholar
Howard, J. D. and Elders, C. A. 1970. Burrowing patterns of haustoriid amphipods from Sapelo Island, Georgia. Pp. 243–261. In: Crimes, T. P. and Harper, J. C., eds. Trace Fossils. Steel House Press. Liverpool, England.Google Scholar
Hylleberg, J. and Gallucci, V. F. 1975. Selectivity in feeding by the deposit-feeding bivalve, Macoma nasuta. Mar. Biol. 32:167–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivlev, V. S. 1961. Experimental Ecology of the Feeding of Fishes. 302 pp. Yale University Press; New Haven Connecticut.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. G. 1974. Particulate material at the sediment-water interface in coastal environments. J. Mar. Res. 32:313–330.Google Scholar
Nichols, F. H. 1974. Sediment turnover by a deposit-feeding polychaete. Limnol. Oceanogr. 19:945–950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ockelmann, K. W. and Vahl, O. 1970. On the biology of the polychaete Glycera alba, especially its burrowing and feeding. Ophelia. 8:275–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ronan, T. E. Jr. 1975. Structural and paleoecological aspects of a modern marine soft-sediment community: An experimental field study. 220 pp. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. Calif., Davis.Google Scholar
Sanders, H. L. 1958. Benthic studies in Buzzards Bay. I. Animal-sediment relationships. Limnol. Oceanogr. 3:245–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders, H. L. 1960. Benthic studies in Buzzards Bay. III. The structure of the soft-bottom communities. Limnol. Oceanogr. 5:138–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders, H. L. and Hessler, R. R. 1969. Ecology of the deep-sea benthos. Science. 163:1419–1424.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanders, H. L., Goudsmit, E. M., Mills, E. L., and Hampson, G. R. 1962. A study on the intertidal fauna of Barnstable Harbor, Mass. Limnol. Oceanogr. 7:63–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schafer, W. 1972. Ecology and Paleoecology of Marine Environments. 566 pp. The University of Chicago Press; Chicago, Illinois.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1964. Biogenic sedimentary structures. Pp. 296–316. In: Imbrie, J. and Newell, N., eds. Approaches to Paleoecology. John Wiley; New York.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1967. Fossil behavior. Sci. Am. 217:72–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephens, G. C. 1972. Amino acid accumulation and assimilation in marine organisms. Pp. 155–182. In: Campbell, J. W. and Goldstein, L., eds. Nitrogen Metabolism in the Environment. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar
Stephens, G. C. 1975. Uptake of naturally occurring primary amines by marine annelids. Biol. Bull. 149:397–407.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker, K. R. 1972. Trophic analysis: A method for studying the function of ancient communities. J. Paleontol. 46:82–93.Google Scholar
Walker, K. R. and Laporte, L. F. 1970. Congruent fossil communities from the Ordovician and Devonian of New York. J. Paleontol. 44:928–944.Google Scholar
Whitlatch, R. B. 1974. Food-resource partitioning in the deposit-feeding polychaete Pectinaria gouldii. Biol. Bull. 147:277–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar