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Science 22 October 1982:
Vol. 218. no. 4570, pp. 371 - 373
DOI: 10.1126/science.218.4570.371
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Articles

Nitrogen Source for a Detritivore: Detritus Substrate Versus Associated Microbes

STUART FINDLAY 1 and KEN TENORE 1

1 Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Box 13687, Savannah, Georgia 31406

Detritivores have been thought to derive nutrition from microbes associated with detrital particles and not from the nonliving plant substrate. The polychaete Capitella capitata, however, was found to derive a major portion of its nitrogen from the plant substrate when it feeds on detritus derived from seaweed. Microbes play a role as a nitrogen source for this detritivore when it feeds on detritus derived from marsh grass.

Submitted on March 5, 1982
Revised on June 8, 1982


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Stimulation of Heterotrophic Microplankton Production by Resuspended Marine Sediments.
S. C. WAINRIGHT (1987)
Science 238, 1710-1712
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