Meeting Abstract

S10.4  Wednesday, Jan. 6  Infaunal hydraulic ecosystem engineers: the cast of characters, biogeography and possible impacts. WOODIN, S.A.*; WETHEY, D.S.; VOLKENBORN, N.; University of South Carolina, Columbia; University of South Carolina, Columbia; University of South Carolina, Columbia woodin@biol.sc.edu

Porewater bioadvection results from behavior specific, hydraulically generated pressure fields that change in direction and magnitude over time scales of minutes to hours and have a radial extent of 50 cm or more. Hydraulic activities thus create transient conditions within the sediment from the depth of individuals’ biotic activities, radially outward to the sediment surface. Our focus is three fold. First, which organisms show such activities and are there species and behavior specific bioadvective signatures in either porewater movements or pressures? Secondly, where do such organisms occur and at what densities; so, what is the biogeographic distribution of bioadvective dominance? Finally, what are the impacts on the functioning of benthic systems and how do bioadvective dominated systems differ from diffusion based sedimentary assemblages or bioturbation based sedimentary assemblages?