Small-scale, patchy distributions of infauna in hydrodynamically mobile continental shelf sands: Do ripple crests and troughs support different communities?

Spatial variability of infauna with respect to distribution of topographic habitat features was examined in hydrodynamically mobile sandy sediments on the inner continental shelf off New Jersey, USA (39° 27.69′ N, 74° 15.81′W). Sediment cores for infauna were taken by SCUBA divers at multiple spatial scales over time at 12-m depth in the LEO-15 research area on Beach Haven Ridge. Crests, troughs and less consistently flanks of sand ripples 5–15-cm in height, were characterized by different infaunal community patterns at spatial scales of centimeters to kilometers on several sampling dates. Overall, infaunal community differences among ripple crests, troughs, and/or flanks within areas <1-m2 were greater than those found for each of these habitats (i.e., either crests, troughs, or flanks) that were separated by distances of 2m–4km. Infaunal density and species richness were consistently higher in troughs compared to crests. Indirect measures of food resources such as particulate organic carbon, chl a, and pheophytin were associated with ripple crests and troughs. Troughs contained significantly higher levels of particulate organic carbon (~1.2 times higher) associated with finer sediments, compared with crests and flanks. Various combinations of taxa had higher densities in either crests or troughs of sand ripples depending on date, and the relative abundances of three taxa, the deposit-feeding polychaete Polygordius jouinae, the suspension-feeding surfclam Spisula solidissima, and predatory nemerteans were important in distinguishing between crests and troughs on most dates. Thus, a priori knowledge of whether a benthic sample comes from a crest or trough helped to explain small-scale infaunal patchiness in relatively homogeneous, subtidal sandy sediments. Consideration of such topographic features in sampling designs can help in explaining variation in species’ distributions at several spatial and temporal scales.