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Soft Bottom Intertidal

General Information. Bottom consists of sediment instead of rockUnstable and constantly shift in response to tides, waves and currentsNo place for organisms to attachMost animals burrow into the bottomThese organisms are referred to as infaunalVery few marine plants. Physical limits for life. S

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Soft Bottom Intertidal

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    1. Soft Bottom Intertidal

    2. General Information Bottom consists of sediment instead of rock Unstable and constantly shift in response to tides, waves and currents No place for organisms to attach Most animals burrow into the bottom These organisms are referred to as infaunal Very few marine plants

    3. Physical limits for life Sediment grain size Whether it is clay, silt or sand Sediment sorting How much of each type of sediment is present Desiccation Sandy sediment dries out faster than clay or silt Not as big an issue as in a rock shore

    4. Oxygen Availability Since no light penetrates the sediment no photosynthesis takes place – no oxygen is produced Sandy sediments are more porous than muddy sediments therefore, water associated with sandy sediments is mixed with water from the water column more efficiently and has a higher oxygen content Muddy or clay sediment is densely packed and does not exchange water so it becomes anoxic quickly Animals that live in this biome pump water into their burrows with siphons, some are very sluggish reducing the need for oxygen, and some have symbiotic bacteria

    5. Anoxic Waters Refers to those waters that have no oxygen Some have a rotten egg smell due to the presence of hydrogen sulfide produced by anaerobic bacteria Areas that have a lot of this bacteria have black sediment layer because the bacteria reduce iron

    6. Mobility Some mollusks burrow using their radula Heart urchins use their spines and tube feet to burrow Some animals eat their way through the sediment – sea cucumbers and worms Some animals are so small they can squeeze between the grains in the sediment – called meiofauna

    7. Feeding Detritus is the main food source Many organism eat the sediment – extracting whatever nutrients they can Some organisms collect particles as they settle out of the water column These are considered suspension feeders Some carnivores burrow through the sediment looking for organisms that have burrowed in and then consume them Some fish come into the area at high tide an nibble on the exposed siphons

    8. Zonation Not as obvious as in the rocky shore area Sandy beaches have the most zonation of any soft bottom shore Water drains quickly from the high tide areas creating physical limits to life Upper beaches tend to be drier than lower beaches

    9. Upper Beach Dry Inhabited by beach hoppers, isopods, ghost crabs and fiddler crabs

    10. Lower Beaches Wet – covered with water for a lot of the time Inhabited by polychaetes, clams and other organisms

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