Summary
We analyze gut architectures of 42 species of marine polychaetes in terms of their anatomically distinct compartments, and quantify differences among guts in terms of ratios of body volume to gut volume, relative compartmental volumes, total gut aspect ratios and compartmental aspect ratios. We use multivariate techniques to classify these polychaetes into 4 groups: carnivores with tubular guts; deposit feeders with tubular guts; deposit feeders with 3 gut compartments; and deposit feeders with 4 or 5 gut compartments. Tubular guts, morphological expressions of plug flow, are common among deposit feeders and may allow relatively rapid ingestion rates and short throughput times. Median gut volume per unit of body volume in deposit feeders (31%) is twice that of carnivores (15%) and ranges up to 83% in one deep-sea species. Deep-sea deposit feeders tend to have relatively larger and longer guts than closely-related nearshore and shelf species. Guts of a number of deep-sea deposit feeders and nearshore and shelf deposit feeders from muddy environments are relatively longer and narrower as body size increases, suggesting that digestive diffusion limitations may be important. Gut volume scales as (body volume)1 while ingestion rate scales as (body volume)0.7. If diet and the chemical kinetics of digestion do not change appreciably, throughput time and thus the extent of digestion of given dietary components therefore must increase as a deposit feeder grows. Digestive processing constrainst may be most important in juveniles of species (especially those species with plug-flow guts) that are deposit feeders as adults.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen JA, Sanders HL (1966) Adaptations to abyssal life as shown by the bivalve Abra profundorum (Smith). Deep-Sea Res 13:1175–1184
Al-Joborae FF (1980) The influence of diet on the gut morphology of the starling (Sturnus vulgaris L. 1758). Ph.D. thesis, university of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Calder WA III (1984) Size, function, and life history. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Cammen LM (1980) Ingestion rate: An empirical model for aquatic deposit feeders and detritivores. Oecologia 44:303–310
Carney RS (1989) Examining relationships between organic carbon flux and deep-sea deposit feeding. In: Lopez G, Taghon GL, Levinton JS (eds) Ecology of marine deposit feeders. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp 24–58
Dade WB, Jumars PA, Penry DL (1990) Supply-side optimization: maximizing absorptive rates. In: Hughes RN (ed) Behavioural mechanisms of food selection. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York (in press)
Dales RP (1955) Feeding and digestion in terebellid polychaetes. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 34:55–79
DeFlaun MF, Mayer LM (1983) Relationships between bacteria and grain surfaces in intertidal sediments. Limnol Oceanogr 28:873–881
Fauchald K, Jumars PA (1979) The diet of worms: a study of polychaete feeding guilds. Oceanogr Mar Biol Ann Rev 17:193–284
Fisher RA (1970) Statistical methods for research workers. Hafner Publishing, Darien, CT
Forbes TL (1989) The importance of size-dependent processes in the ecology of deposit-feeding benthos. In: Lopez G, Taghon GL, Levinton JS (eds) Ecology of marine deposit feeders. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp 171–200
Forbes TL, Lopez GR (1987) The allometry of deposit feeding in Capitella species I (Polychaeta: Capitellidae): the role of temperature and pellet weight in the control of egestion. Biol Bull 172:187–201
Gallagher ED, Gardner GB, Jumars PA (1990) Competition among the pioneers in a seasonal soft-bottom benthic succession: field experiments and analysis of the Gilpin-Ayala competition model. Oecologia (in press)
Gooday AJ (1988) A response by benthic Foraminifera to the deposition of phytodetritus in the deep sea. Nature 332:70–73
Grassle JF, Grassle JP (1974) Opportunistic life-histories and genetic systems in marine benthic polychaetes. J Mar Res 32:253–284
Hoppe PP (1977) Rumen fermentation and body weight in African ruminants. In: Proceedings of XIIIth Congress of Game Biologists. Atlanta, GA, pp 141–150
Hume ID (1982) Digestive physiology and nutrition of marsupials. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Jumars PA (1974) Dispersion patterns and species diversity of macrobenthos in two bathyal communities. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, CA
Jumars PA (1975) Target species for deep-sea studies in ecology, genetics and physiology. Zool J Linn Soc 57:341–348
Jumars PA, Penry DL (1989) Digestion theory applied to deposit feeding. In: Lopez G, Taghon GL, Levinton JS (eds) Ecology of marine deposit feeders. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp 114–128
Jumars PA, Altenbach AV, De Lange GJ, Emerson SR, Hargrave BT, Muller PJ, Prahl FG, Reimers CE, Steiger T, Suess E (1989) Transformation of seafloor-arriving fluxes into the sedimentary record. In: Berger WH, Smetacek VS, Wefer G (eds) Productivity of the ocean: present and past. Dahlem Konferenzen, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK, pp 291–301
Khripounoff A, Sibuet M (1980) La nutrition d'echinoderms abyssaux I. Alimentation des holothuries. Mar Biol 60:17–26
Levin LA, Caswell H, DePatra KD, Creed EL (1987) Demographic consequences of larval development mode: planktotrophy vs lecithotrophy in Streblospio benedicti. Ecology 68:1877–1886
Lochte K, Turley TM (1988) Bacteria and cyanobacteria associated with phytodetritus in the deep sea. Nature 333:67–69
Nie NH, Hull CH, Jenkins JG, Steinbrenner K, Bent DH (1975) Statistical package for the social sciences, 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, New York
Parra R (1978) Comparison of foregut and hindgut fermentation in herbivores. In: Montogmery GG (ed) The ecology of arboreal folivores. Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, pp 205–229
Pearson TH, Rosenberg R (1978) Macrobenthic succession in relation to organic enrichment and pollution of the marine environment. Oceanogr Mar Biol Ann Rev 16:229–311
Penry DL (1988) Digestion theory and applications to deposit feeders. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Penry DL (1989) Tests of kinematic models for deposit feeders' guts: patterns of sediment processing by Parastichopus californicus (Stimpson) (Holothuroidea) and Amphicteis scaphobranchiata Moore (Polychaeta). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 128:127–146
Penry DL, Jumars PA (1986) Chemical reactor analysis and optimal digestion theory. BioScience 36:310–315
Penry DL, Jumars PA (1987) Modeling animal guts as chemical reactors. Am Nat 129:69–96
Plante CJ, Jumars PA, Baross JA (1989) Rapid bacterial growth in the hindgut of a marine deposit feeder. Microb Ecol 18:29–44
Pough FH (1973) Lizard energetics and diet. Ecology 54:837–844
Savory CJ, Gentle MJ (1976) Changes in food intake and gut size in Japanese quail in response to manipulation of dietary fiber content. Br Poult Sci 17:571–580
Self RFL, Jumars PA (1978) New resource axes for deposit feeders? J Mar Res 36:627–641
Self RFL, Jumars PA (1988) Cross-phyletic patterns of particle selection by deposit feeders. J Mar Res 46:119–143
Sibly RM (1981) Strategies of digestion and defecation. In: Townsend CR, Calow P (eds) Physiological ecology: an evolutionary approach to resource use. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA, pp 109–139
Smith CR (1986) Nekton falls, low-intensity disturbance and community structure of infaunal benthos in the deep sea. J Mar Res 44:567–600
Smith KL Jr., Baldwin JR (1984) Seasonal fluctuations in deep-sea community oxygen consumption: central and eastern North Pacific. Nature 307:624–626
Thistle D, Eckman JE (in press) The effect of a biologically produced structure on the benthic copepods of a deep-sea site. Deep-Sea Res
Troyer K (1984) Diet selection and digestion in Iguana iguana: the importance of age and nutrient requirements. Oecologia 61:201–207
Weston DP (1983) Distribution of macrobenthic invertebrates on the North Carolina continental shelf with consideration of sediment, hydrography and biogeography. Ph.D. dissertation, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
Weston DP (1988) Macrobenthos-sediment relationships on the continental shelf off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Continental Shelf Res 8:267–286
Wishart D (1975) Clustan, release 1 c. University College, London
Woodin SA (1974) Polychaete abundance patterns in a marine soft-sediment environment: the importance of biological interactions. Ecol Monogr 44:171–187
Yamamoto N, Lopez G (1985) Bacterial abundance in relation to surface area and organic content of marine sediments. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 90:209–220
ZoBell CE (1983) Studies on the bacterial flora of marine bottom sediments. J Sed Pet 8:10–18
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Penry, D.L., Jumars, P.A. Gut architecture, digestive constraints and feeding ecology of deposit-feeding and carnivorous polychaetes. Oecologia 82, 1–11 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318526
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318526