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Production and energy flow in the macrobenthos of two sandy beaches in South West India *

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

A. D. Ansell ,
D. S. McLusky ,
Ann Stirling  and
Ann Trevallion
A. D. Ansell
Affiliation:
Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, Oban, Argyllshire.
D. S. McLusky
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Stirling.
Ann Stirling
Affiliation:
D.A.F.S. Marine Laboratory, Torry, Aberdeen.
Ann Trevallion
Affiliation:
D.A.F.S. Marine Laboratory, Torry, Aberdeen.
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Synopsis

Estimates of the rates of secondary production by the individual macrofaunal invertebrates of two Indian beaches are presented and these are combined to give an estimate of the energy flow through the macrobenthos of the two beaches. The production by individual species and by the macrofauna as a whole is compared with that of other tropical, and of temperate beaches, and it is concluded that a similar biomass in the tropical beaches produces a rate of turnover of biomass some ten times that of the temperate beaches. Values of production to biomass ratios (P/B) and of elimination to biomass ratios (E/B) for the invertebrates of sandy substrata in various geographical areas are reviewed and the use of these ratios in comparisons of productivity, and their relationship to mortality and longevity are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 76 , Issue 4 , 1978 , pp. 269 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1978

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Footnotes

*

This paper was assisted in publication by a grant from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.

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