ANIMAL-SEDIMENT RELATIONS IN A TROPICAL LAGOON DISCOVERY BAY, JAMAICA.

In temperate marine environments the reworking of muddy sediments by deposit-feeding organisms may result in an unstable bottom whose properties are not suitable for suspension feeders. This kind of exclusion or inhibition of one trophic group as a consequence of the activities of another is termed trophic group amensalism. The amensalism principle has recently been applied to the distribution of tropical benthos in a Florida estuary. In this study, the authors investigated the tropical benthos of a typical back-reef lagoon, Discovery Bay, Jamaica. Emphasis was placed on the different animal-sediment relations, the stability of bottom sediments and the possibility of amensalistic interaction between different groups of bottom organisms. The results of this study and their implications for the reef community are discussed here, and are compared with examples from the temperate benthic environment. Refs.