Deposit-feeding worms control subsurface ecosystem functioning in intertidal sediment with strong physical forcing.

ABSTRACT: Intertidal sands are global hotspots of terrestrial and marine carbon cycling with strong hydrodynamic forcing by waves and tides and high macrofaunal activity. Yet, the relative importance of hydrodynamics and macrofauna in controlling these ecosystems remains unclear. Here, we compare geochemical gradients and bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic gene sequences in intertidal sands dominated by subsurface deposit-feeding worms (Abarenicola pacifica) to adjacent worm-free areas. We show that hydrodynamic forcing controls organismal assemblages in surface sediments, while in deeper layers selective feeding by worms on fine, algae-rich particles strongly decreases the abundance and richness of all three domains. In these deeper layers, bacterial and eukaryotic network connectivity decr

SUBMITTER: Deng L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9802194 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature