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waders and their estuarine food supplies - Vlaams Instituut voor de ...

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50<br />

100-<br />

s<br />

s<br />

I — f =<br />

S. plana, n=277<br />

n^" r- rrr- ! 1 1*<br />

10 15 20 75 30<br />

shell lengih (mm)<br />

Fiij. 8. Percentage per si/e class of four bivalve species living in ihe<br />

upper 2 cm or upper 3 cm of the substrate, as a measure of the frac­<br />

tion ot prey accessible to Knot. Hie dala. collected in the study area,<br />

are based on Zwarts & Wanink (1989) <strong>and</strong> are Irom August ftxMa­<br />

coma <strong>and</strong> July lo September for Cenisiniliriiiu <strong>and</strong> Mya. Since<br />

small Scrobicularia rarely occurred in the Stud) area during the<br />

years of sampling, the dala were lumped for the entire year <strong>and</strong> sup­<br />

plemented with <strong>de</strong>pth measurement Irom Wales I Hughes 1970).<br />

S<strong>and</strong>erling Calidris alba (bill length 26 to 27 mm)<br />

were 20 mm <strong>de</strong>ep (Gerritsen & Meiboom 1986) <strong>and</strong><br />

the probing <strong>de</strong>pths ol" an Oystercatcher (bill length 70<br />

mm) averaged 40 mm (Wanink & Zwarts 1985). This<br />

suyecsis thai prey living in the upper two cm (Fig. 8)<br />

likely would be accessible to Knot.<br />

Detectable prey<br />

Taking into account the fraction of prey that is too<br />

large to be eaten or are living too far down to be<br />

WHY KNOT TAKE MEDIUM-SIZED MACOMA<br />

277<br />

reached, the <strong>de</strong>nsity of the available prey in the study<br />

site is reduced from 2705 to 1412 bivalves m -'. Bui not<br />

all of these may be <strong>de</strong>tectable, except perhaps Mytilus,<br />

which is visible on the surface The other bivalves<br />

were found by probing vertically downward, in ihe<br />

same way Uystercaicheis search Im Mm oma (Hulscher<br />

1982). The probability of a prey being touched<br />

<strong>de</strong>pends primarily on its surface area measured in the<br />

hon/ontal plane. Hulscher (1982) measured this<br />

'touch area' by photographing bivalves in <strong>their</strong> natural<br />

position from above, the mud having been carefully removed<br />

beforeh<strong>and</strong>. Wanink & Zwarts (1985) measured<br />

'touch area' in Scrobicularia plana, by <strong>de</strong>termining<br />

the surface area left by prey pressed into<br />

mo<strong>de</strong>lling clay. The latter technique was also used<br />

here. The natural position of the bivalves in die subsirate<br />

is shown in Fig. 9. Touch area was closely re-<br />

SURFACE IN HORIZONTAL PLANE<br />

LENGTH WIDTH HEIGHT<br />

Macoma balihica<br />

0549-0006 LW<br />

1,24<br />

("erasio<strong>de</strong>rma edule<br />

0880:0008 -L-W<br />

n.!0<br />

naria<br />

0 660 • 0.012 H W<br />

n.4<br />

Scrobicularia plana<br />

0616-0010 L*<br />

n-12<br />

Fig. 9. Surface area i 'touch area' I of lour bivalve species given as a<br />

function of the ratio of shell length <strong>and</strong> widlh. except in Mya art-<br />

nana for which shell heighi <strong>and</strong> width were used. Number of mea­<br />

surements <strong>and</strong> st<strong>and</strong>ard emir of the ratios are given Touch ana'<br />

relets |o ihe maximal surlace area of bivalves buried in <strong>their</strong> natural<br />

position, measured in a hon/ontal plane.

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