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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Animal-Sediment Relations In A Tropical Lagoon: Discovery Bay, Jamaica, Robert C. Aller, Richard E. Dodge
Animal-Sediment Relations In A Tropical Lagoon: Discovery Bay, Jamaica, Robert C. Aller, Richard E. Dodge
Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles
The distribution of many macrobenthic species in the back-reef lagoon of Discovery Bay, Jamaica can be related to a gradient in bottom stability. This gradient is defined by increasing rates of biogenic reworking and sediment resuspension in the western part of the lagoon. Infaunal diversity and coral growth decrease in the western, unstable areas. The infauna of the carbonate sand consists mainly of deposit feeders. In the western lagoon, the feeding activities of this group result in high biogenic reworking rates (up to 6-7 cm/week) producing loose surface sediment easily resuspended by waves. A maximum, mean resuspension rate of 19 …