Mechanisms of infaunal polychaete dispersal and colonization in an intertidal sandflat

摘要

Changes in benthic infaunal population densities following disturbance may be influenced by colonization mechanisms. Accordingly, this study experimentally examined the relative importance of four colonization mechanisms for seven numerically dominant polychaete species in an interidal estuarine sandflat in Connecticut, USA. The colonization mechanism an organism used depended upon species characteristics including larval developmental mode and depth distribution within the sediment.