Abstract:To study the effects of bioturbation of Sipunculus nudus on the sediment and the pore water, we established a polyculture ecosystem consisting of S. nudus and Mugil cephlus in the laboratory conditions. The experiment was conducted in 20 breeding tanks (diameter 1 m, height 0.8 m, water volumn 550 L). S. nudus [mean weight (1.2±0.1) g] was stocked at four different densities in the sandy sediment at the bottom of the tank: 0 (control), 50, 100 and 150 individuals per tank. In each tank 3 juvenile M. cephlus [mean weight (24.5±0.5) g] were cultured with normal ration supply in a net cage (diameter of 0.8 m, height of 0.6 m). The sediment was prepared in layers: the bottom layer was 6 cm thick medium sand (grain size 0.40–1.10 mm), and the top layer was 1 cm thick fine sand (grain size 0.10–0.28 mm). The results showed that the organic content in the bottom sediment (6–8 cm) in the experimental groups was slightly but insignificantly higher than that in the control group (P>0.05). The contents of nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) in the pore water increased gradually as the experiment lasted. At the end of the experiment, it was found that the NO3-N content in the bottom pore water was negatively correlated with the density of S. nudus, and it was lower in pore water of the T100 and T150 groups than in the T0 group (P<0.05). The NH4-N content of the pore water in the surface layer was the highest in the T0 group. The TN content in the water column rose along with the increase in the density of S. nudus. During the experiment, the NH4-N content of the bottom pore water in the T100 and T150 groups was significantly higher than that in the T0 group (P<0.05). The lowest NH4-N content was observed in all layers of the pore water in the T50 group. These results suggested that the bioturbation of S. nudus could partly boost the downward transportation of organic content across the sediment, and consequently affect the nutrients content in the pore water.
