Role of the bivalveCorbicula japonica in the nitrogen cycle in a mesohaline lagoon (original) (raw)

Abstract

The effect of the bivalve_Corbicula japonica_ on the nitrogen cycle in Lake Shinji, a mesohaline brackish lagoon in Japan, was examined quantitatively based on field surveys and laboratory experiments carried out in the summer of 1982 and 1983. The biomass of the flesh of_C. japonica_ comprised 97% of the total biomass of the macrozoobenthos in summer. Total biomass of_C. japonica_ in the lake was estimated 30 986 t fresh wt. The concentration of suspended solids immediately above the lake bottom, where_C. japonica_ filters the water, was 1.5 to 4 times higher than that in the surface water. In laboratory experiments, the filtration rate was 5.0 litres g dry flesh wt-1 h-1, the excretion rates of ammonia and of feces and pseudofeces of_C. japonica_ were 200×10-6 g N g dry flesh wt-1 h-1 and 33.4 mg dry wt g dry flesh wt-1 h-1, respectively at 27°C, the average summer water temperature in the lake. From our study, we estimated that_C. japonica_ filters almost the same amounts of particulate organic nitrogen produced in the lake by phytoplankton and that supplied from rivers, and that it excretes 30% of filtered nitrogen as feces or pseudofeces and 18% as ammonia.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Shimane Prefectural Fisheries Experimental Station, 2123, Urago, Nishinoshima-cho, Oki, Shimane, Japan
   M. Nakamura
2. Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 1-15-1, Minamidai, Nakano, Tokyo, Japan
   M. Yamamuro
3. Department of Food Technology and Engineering, The Tokyo University of Fisheries, 4-5-7, Kounan, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
   M. Ishikawa
4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
   H. Nishimura

Authors

1. M. Nakamura
2. M. Yamamuro
3. M. Ishikawa
4. H. Nishimura

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Communicated by M. Anraku, Tokyo

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Nakamura, M., Yamamuro, M., Ishikawa, M. et al. Role of the bivalve_Corbicula japonica_ in the nitrogen cycle in a mesohaline lagoon.Mar. Biol. 99, 369–374 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02112129

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• Accepted: 16 May 1988
• Issue date: October 1988
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02112129

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