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Density-Dependent Predation; Crabs Callinectes-Sapidus; Macoma-Balthica; Blue Crabs; Community Structure; Chesapeake Bay; Wadden Sea; Bottom-Up; Top-Down; Exploitation Ecosystems
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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Consumer Versus Resource Control And The Importance Of Habitat Heterogeneity For Estuarine Bivalves, Rochelle D. Seitz, Rom Lipcius, Ah Hines
Consumer Versus Resource Control And The Importance Of Habitat Heterogeneity For Estuarine Bivalves, Rochelle D. Seitz, Rom Lipcius, Ah Hines
VIMS Articles
The relative influence of consumers (top down) and resources (bottom up) on the distribution and abundance of organisms remains a key question in ecology. We examined the relationships between consumer and resource variables along a productivity gradient for a dominant predator-prey interaction in a marine soft-sediment system. We 1) quantified density and size of the clam Macoma balthica (prey species) in six replicate sites at each of four habitat types (shallow mud, deep mud, muddy sand and detrital mud) in the Rhode River, Chesapeake Bay. We selected one habitat type of high food availability and clam density (shallow mud) and …