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Contact: Peter Swarzenski
USGS Florida Integrated Science Center, 600 4th Street South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701
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| One large group of benthic organisms which influence the abiotic component of their environment are thalassinideans (mud or ghost shrimp), also known as “ecosystem engineers.” Ghost shrimp maintain large burrow systems that increase the surface area of the sediment/water interface. They are also filter-feeders (also know as suspension-feeders); they actively pump large amounts of water in and out of their burrows to obtain food. These activities move around large amounts of sediment and increase fluxes between the water column and the sediment. The movement of water and sediment by ghost shrimp has a direct effect on levels and distribution of contaminants in sediment.
In this investigation, measurements of zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) were taken from bottom surface sediment, ghost shrimp burrow walls, and the sediment ejected by ghost shrimp from their burrows at five intertidal sites within Tampa Bay. Ghost shrimp burrow walls and the ejected sediment had higher levels of Zn and Cd than the nearby bottom sediments. These results indicate that Ghost shrimp have an influence on the distribution of contaminants in the sediment.
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What is an “ecosystem engineer”?
An ecosystem engineer is any organism that creates, modifies or maintains its environment. Although many organisms affect the environment in a physical way, ecologist reserve the term “ecosystem engineer” for those organisms that very strongly affect their environment and other organisms. |
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Ghost Shrimp Burrow
Sampling Sites in Tampa Bay |
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USGS Open-File Report 2005-1015, January 2005: The Impact of Groundwater and Contaminants on Tampa Bay
The Tampa Bay studies in biogeochemical cycles are presented in a special volume of Marine Chemistry - an international journal for studies of all chemical aspects of the marine environment.
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| REFEREED PUBLICATIONS: |
Klerks, P.L., D.L. Felder, K. Strasser, and P.W. Swarzenski. 2007. Effects of ghost shrimp on zinc and cadmium in sediments from Tampa Bay, Florida. Marine Chemistry 104 (1-2) : 17-26.
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