Bioturbation in Aquatic Environments: Linking Past and Present Benthic
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Vol. 2: 201–205, 2008 AQUATIC BIOLOGY Printed June 2008 doi: 10.3354/ab00051 Aquat Biol Published online June 19, 2008 OPEN ACCESS THEME SECTION Bioturbation in aquatic environments: linking past and present Idea and coordination: Martin Solan, Liam G. Herringshaw CONTENTS Gingras MK, Dashtgard SE, MacEachern JA, Pemberton SG Herringshaw LG, Solan M Biology of shallow marine ichnology: a modern Benthic bioturbation in the past, present perspective ……………………………………….……… 255–268 and future ………………………………………………… 201–205 White DS, Miller MF Teal LR, Bulling MT, Parker ER, Solan M Benthic invertebrate activity in lakes: linking Global patterns of bioturbation intensity and present and historical bioturbation patterns ……… 269–277 mixed depth of marine soft sediments ……………… 207–218 Maire O, Lecroart P, Meysman F, Rosenberg R, Herringshaw LG, Davies NS Duchêne JC, Grémare A Bioturbation levels during the end-Ordovician Quantification of sediment reworking rates in extinction event: a case study of shallow bioturbation research: a review ……………………… 219–238 marine strata from the Welsh Basin ………………… 279–287 Meysman FJR, Malyuga VS, Boudreau BP, Solan M, Batty P, Bulling MT, Godbold JA Middelburg JJ How biodiversity affects ecosystem processes: Quantifying particle dispersal in aquatic sediments implications for ecological revolutions and at short time scales: model selection ………………… 239–254 benthic ecosystem function …………………….……… 289–301 Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher Benthic bioturbation in the past, present and future Liam G. Herringshaw1,*, Martin Solan2 1Geology & Petroleum Geology, School of Geosciences, Meston Building, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK 2Oceanlab, University of Aberdeen, Main Street, Newburgh, Aberdeenshire AB41 6FL, UK Understanding how ecosystems function at present is trace fossils (ichnology) can provide a wealth of new critical to any assessment of how they functioned in the information for aquatic biologists, ecologists, sedi- past and of how they will function in the future. The ge- mentologists and palaeontologists. Bioturbation studies ological record provides the dataset by which previous enable quantification of the behaviour of benthic or- periods of environmental change can be examined and ganisms, their impact upon the environment, and their their consequences assessed. Ecological research, par- response to environmental change. In sedimentary ticularly predictive studies of ecosystem functioning, rocks, ichnology may be the only means of assessing should therefore consider both modern and ancient the organisms and ecosystems of the past. However, as case studies. Integrating research on bioturbation (the noted by Meysman et al. (2006, p. 688), there is often ‘a mixing of sediment by living organisms) with studies of rather slow transfer of ideas’ between workers in the *Email: [email protected] © Inter-Research 2008 · www.int-res.com 202 Aquat Biol 2: 201–205, 2008 two fields. Our aim in this Theme Section is to illustrate The history of bioturbation in freshwater settings is some of the many interesting topics in current bioturba- less well understood than in marine environments, not tion research for both modern and ancient eras, stimu- least because trace fossils are comparatively uncom- late cross-disciplinary discussion, and highlight poten- mon in lacustrine and fluvial deposits (particularly the tially fruitful areas of collaboration. latter). The colonization of brackish water environ- ments probably began in the Ediacaran (Buatois et al. 2005), but evidence of bioturbation in truly freshwater Impacts of bioturbation on aquatic environments settings is lacking prior to the Cambro-Ordovician (see Buatois & Mángano 2007). Furthermore, these Early Bioturbation changes preserved in the rock record Palaeozoic freshwater traces are epifaunal trackways enable the recognition of 3 significant events in the from the margins of lakes (e.g. Johnson et al. 1994) and evolution of aquatic ecosystems: the colonization of rivers (e.g. Wright et al. 1995). Traces recording the infaunal habitats in shallow marine settings, the colo- first freshwater infauna are much rarer, and their nization of the deep sea, and the colonization of fresh- age less well constrained. The ichnotaxa described water environments. Infaunal activity was negligible from fluvial channels and inter-dune ponds in the in the Precambrian, but the Cambrian radiation of Tumblagooda Sandstone of Australia are probably late marine invertebrates led to a ‘substrate revolution’ Silurian in age (Trewin & McNamara 1995), but (Bottjer et al. 2000). Through burrowing, feeding, ven- palaeomagnetic data has been used to suggest that the tilatory and locomotory behaviour, infauna altered bio- sediments were deposited in the Ordovician (Schmidt chemical and diagenetic reactions profoundly, and & Hamilton 1990). Whichever age is correct, these facilitated a radical redistribution of sediment particles domichnia (dwelling burrows) are the oldest fresh- and pore water across the sediment–water interface. water examples known, but resolution of the geo- Whilst the impact of bioturbation is species-specific chronology is critical to establishing when such sub- and context dependent (e.g. Solan & Kennedy 2002), it strates were first colonized by infaunal organisms. The directly alters key ecosystem processes, including early evolution of terrestrial ecosystems is incom- organic matter remineralisation and decomposition, pletely understood, and future ichnological studies nutrient cycling, pollutant release, sediment resuspen- have the potential to provide many new insights. sion and microbial activity (see, inter alia, Rhoads 1974, Aller 1982, Krantzberg 1985). As bioturbating organisms evolved, a temporally and spatially dynamic Effects of environmental change on bioturbation mosaic of microenvironments was created, enabling the exploitation of new ecospace and the development The effects of biodiversity loss on bioturbation are of more complex and diverse benthic communities. beginning to be recognised (Solan et al. 2008, this Understanding and quantifying the mechanisms of Theme Section), but little is known about how biotur- bioturbation are therefore of primary importance for bation processes are affected by progressive species disentangling organism–sediment interactions as they loss under realistic extinction scenarios (Solan et al. relate to the provision and long-term sustainability of 2004). Five major extinctions are recognized in the ecosystem function. Phanerozoic: the late Ordovician, late Devonian, end- Restricted primarily to shallow marine environments Permian, late Triassic, and end-Cretaceous events. during the Cambrian, complex, diverse bioturbation The nature of these events was determined primarily became prevalent in deep marine settings by the early using body fossils, and only recently have researchers Ordovician (Orr 2001). This offshore transition is begun examining the intervals for ichnological changes. attributed to an increasing competition for space and Parameters such as burrow size and bioturbation depth resources in shallow marine environments (Orr 2001) can be used as proxies for ecological stress; Twitchett that led to the displacement of some groups of trace- & Barras (2004) highlighted the value of such measure- makers (see also Crimes et al. 1992, Crimes 2001). Full ments in determining the ecological aftermath of details of the transition remain to be worked out, with extinction events. In stratigraphic successions of suffi- deep marine strata of late Cambrian and early Ordo- ciently high resolution, the same approach could be vician age requiring further ichnological investigation, applied to the onset and duration of extinctions. There but the interpretation of its causes is generally accepted. is a noticeable paucity of work on the late Ordovician The ecological and environmental effects of bioturba- and late Devonian events; most research so far has tion in these deep marine environments have seen far focused on the end-Permian and end-Cretaceous less study, despite recognition that benthic biodiversity extinctions. Herringshaw & Davies (2008, this Theme plays a key role in ecological and biogeochemical pro- Section) have studied ichnological changes in the late cesses at a global scale (e.g. Danovaro et al. 2008). Ordovician of the Welsh Basin, but more work needs to Herringshaw & Solan: Theme Section on bioturbation 203 be conducted over a much broader geographical area, For ecologists and ichnologists interested in lacus- and for all extinction intervals. In terms of predicting trine bioturbation, the problems are arguably greater. future change, research into extinctions driven by in- Compared with marine environments, modern lakes trinsic mechanisms such as eustatic sea level change are inhabited by significantly fewer burrowing organ- (rather than extrinsic events such as meteorite impacts) isms. Lakes are also subject to major seasonal and could be especially informative. regional variations, and lacustrine facies are scarce Anthropogenic stresses, including overfishing, habi- in the rock record. White & Miller (2008, this Theme tat destruction and pollution are amongst the most Section) note that bioturbation in lakes has seen little immediate threats to the persistence of sediment- research, and studies comparing modern traces with dwelling invertebrates in present day coastal and the ichnological record are especially scarce. There deep-sea