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

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2 3 4 5 6 7<br />

time after emersion (h)<br />

Fig. 9. Nereis ili versicolor. Surface activity on a muddy intertidal<br />

Hal after emersion on 9 September (•) <strong>and</strong> 22 September (O). A.<br />

Frequency with which worms > .1 cm were observed al the surface<br />

(freq. = no. of observations/mean <strong>de</strong>nsity; it was assumed thai<br />

worms < 3 cm were not <strong>de</strong>tected). B. Duration of ihe surface boots<br />

i mean ± SB). C Surface activity as percentage of the time budget<br />

(fret), h ' x duraUon of surface bout).<br />

riod of 6 li is c. 10 times more than that measured by<br />

Twisk (1986) in a more natural experimental selling.<br />

The surface activity was. as in the field situation,<br />

minimal during the first 2 h after exposure, but the burrow<br />

activity was then at its maximum (c. 20%). The<br />

time spent on burrow activity <strong>de</strong>creased during the low<br />

BURROWING AND FEEDING IN NEREIS<br />

310<br />

40 -<br />

SURFACE<br />

2 3 4 5<br />

time after emersion (h)<br />

®<br />

Fig. III. Nereis diversu olor. Time-budgei in an aquarium after cxposure:<br />

active ai surface ilighi areal <strong>and</strong> in burrow (dark). A. COO<br />

irol; B. Feeding experiment when a slurry of minced Scrobicularia<br />

planavnss poured over the substrate just alter emersion. St<strong>and</strong>ard er-<br />

IOIS computed per hall hour periods tn =12).<br />

water period, whereas surface activity increased, resulting<br />

in an almost constant level of observed activity<br />

during the entire exposure time. This pattern of activity<br />

changed completely after a slurp, of shelled <strong>and</strong><br />

minced Scrobicularia plana was poured over ihe mud<br />

shortly after emersion (Fig. I OB). Nereis came to the<br />

surface immediately to scavenge on the pieces of meat,<br />

which they took down into <strong>their</strong> burrows. The worms<br />

spent most ol" <strong>their</strong> time at the surface during the first 3<br />

h of this experiment. It is unlikely that the <strong>de</strong>crease in<br />

activity after 3 h was caused by a <strong>de</strong>piction of ihe <strong>food</strong><br />

supply because of (he large quantity of slurry used in<br />

the experiment. Possibly the worms became satiated.<br />

There was no burrow activity when there was no<br />

water left at the surface (Fig. 11), as also found by<br />

Twisk (1986). The observation that burrow activity<br />

was maximal if the overlying water layer was thin,<br />

might be explained by the increasing <strong>food</strong> concentra-

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