Burrowing Behavior in Mud and Sand of Morphologically Divergent Polychaete Species (Annelida: Orbiniidae)
| Autor: | Kelly M. Dorgan, Alex A. Francoeur |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: |
Geologic Sediments
Polychaete Behavior Animal biology Range (biology) Ecology Naineris dendritica Polychaeta biology.organism_classification Burrow Biomechanical Phenomena Head (geology) Elastic solids Orbiniidae Animals General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Locomotion Leitoscoloplos pugettensis |
| Zdroj: | The Biological Bulletin. 226:131-145 |
| ISSN: | 1939-8697 0006-3185 |
| DOI: | 10.1086/bblv226n2p131 |
| Popis: | Muddy and sandy sediments have different physical properties. Muds are cohesive elastic solids, whereas granular beach sands are non-cohesive porous me- dia. Infaunal organisms such as worms that burrow through sediments therefore face different mechanical challenges that potentially lead to a variety of burrowing strategies and morphologies. In this study we compared three morpholog- ically distinct polychaete species representing different clades in the family Orbiniidae and related differences in their burrowing behaviors and morphologies to their natural environments (mud or sand). Worms burrowed in transpar- ent analogs for muds and sands, and kinematic analysis showed differences both among species and between mate- rials. Leitoscoloplos pugettensis lives in mud and burrows by fracture, using its pointed head to concentrate stress at the tip of the burrow. Naineris dendritica lives in sand and uses its broader head that fluctuates in width over a bur- rowing cycle to decrease backward slipping in sand, poten- tially preventing burrow collapse. Orbinia johnsoni lives in sand and uses internal body expansions to pack sand grains, another mechanism to prevent burrow collapse. By combin- ing data from species and materials to obtain a broad range of burrowing velocities, we show that burrowing worms control their velocity by increasing or decreasing their bur- rowing frequency rather than by altering cycle distance as shown previously for crawling earthworms. This study demonstrates how fairly small evolutionary divergences in morphologies and behaviors facilitate locomotion in envi- ronments with different physical constraints. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|