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Full-Text Articles in Marine Biology
Intertidal Zonation Of Hemichordates In Soft Sediments, Kharis R. Schrage, Juselyn D. Tupik, Jonathan D. Allen
Intertidal Zonation Of Hemichordates In Soft Sediments, Kharis R. Schrage, Juselyn D. Tupik, Jonathan D. Allen
Arts & Sciences Articles
Intertidal zonation of organisms is well studied on rocky shores but less so in soft sediment communities. On rocky shores, communities are two dimensional, with biotic factors such as competition and predation setting the lower bound of a zone, whereas abiotic factors such as desiccation set the upper bound. In soft sediment communities, these patterns persist, but with a dynamic three-dimensional ecosystem occupied by mobile infaunal organisms, zonation can be more difficult to quantify and detect. Hemichordate worms, however, deposit fecal casts at the surface, which can be easily identified and counted, making them a potential model system for identifying …
Asymmetric Root Distributions Reveal Press–Pulse Responses In Retreating Coastal Forests, Tyler C. Messerschmidt, Amy K. Langston, Matthew L. Kirwan
Asymmetric Root Distributions Reveal Press–Pulse Responses In Retreating Coastal Forests, Tyler C. Messerschmidt, Amy K. Langston, Matthew L. Kirwan
VIMS Articles
The impacts of climate change on ecosystems are manifested in how organisms respond to episodic and continuous stressors. The conversion of coastal forests to salt marshes represents a prominent example of ecosystem state change, driven by the continuous stress of sea-level rise (press), and episodic storms (pulse). Here, we measured the rooting dimension and fall direction of 143 windthrown eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) trees in a rapidly retreating coastal forest in Chesapeake Bay (USA). We found that tree roots were distributed asymmetrically away from the leading edge of soil salinization and towards freshwater sources. The length, number, …