Assignment of Feeding Guild Classifications and Functional Roles to Puget Sound Benthic Macroinvertebrates
Presentation Abstract
The assignment of feeding guild classifications and functional roles to estuarine benthic macroinvertebrates is a new effort being conducted by Ecology’s Marine Sediment Monitoring Program (MSMP) in conjunction with the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program. Functional information has been applied in past Puget Sound benthos studies, in the Strait of Georgia, and in other estuarine surveys worldwide to elucidate food web dynamics and carbon pathway sources and sinks. As part of our current effort, the feeding guild classification system developed by Macdonald et al. (2010) for the benthic macroinvertebrates of the Strait of Georgia Ambient Monitoring Project, Phase 2 (AMP), has been adopted and applied to 1,589 benthic taxa collected by the MSMP. Puget Sound taxa, which also occur in the AMP surveys, were assigned to feeding guilds by means of the Macdonald et al. coding criteria: feeding mode, food type and source, motility and life habit. Additional literature searches were conducted to assign functional coding to the benthic taxa that were not found in the Strait of Georgia study. Feeding guild classifications were then applied to the benthos data collected between 1997 and 2012 for eight Puget Sound regions and six urban bays, and spatial distribution maps generated. Spatial patterns and temporal changes in benthic feeding guild distribution are noted, and possible structuring mechanisms such as shifting phytoplankton communities and other environmental conditions and pressures are discussed.
Session Title
Session S-03A: Changes in Salish Sea Water Quality
Conference Track
Marine Water Quality
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
1-5-2014 5:00 PM
End Date
1-5-2014 6:30 PM
Location
Room 6C
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Aquatic biology--Washington (State)--Puget Sound; Water quality biological assessment--Washington (State)--Puget Sound; Stream invertebrates--Washington (State)--Puget Sound
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Puget Sound (Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Assignment of Feeding Guild Classifications and Functional Roles to Puget Sound Benthic Macroinvertebrates
Room 6C
The assignment of feeding guild classifications and functional roles to estuarine benthic macroinvertebrates is a new effort being conducted by Ecology’s Marine Sediment Monitoring Program (MSMP) in conjunction with the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program. Functional information has been applied in past Puget Sound benthos studies, in the Strait of Georgia, and in other estuarine surveys worldwide to elucidate food web dynamics and carbon pathway sources and sinks. As part of our current effort, the feeding guild classification system developed by Macdonald et al. (2010) for the benthic macroinvertebrates of the Strait of Georgia Ambient Monitoring Project, Phase 2 (AMP), has been adopted and applied to 1,589 benthic taxa collected by the MSMP. Puget Sound taxa, which also occur in the AMP surveys, were assigned to feeding guilds by means of the Macdonald et al. coding criteria: feeding mode, food type and source, motility and life habit. Additional literature searches were conducted to assign functional coding to the benthic taxa that were not found in the Strait of Georgia study. Feeding guild classifications were then applied to the benthos data collected between 1997 and 2012 for eight Puget Sound regions and six urban bays, and spatial distribution maps generated. Spatial patterns and temporal changes in benthic feeding guild distribution are noted, and possible structuring mechanisms such as shifting phytoplankton communities and other environmental conditions and pressures are discussed.
