Loved learning about this under-appreciated habitat engineer! They seem closely related to the sandcastle worm we have on the Pacific coast? which seem much more visible, if not the animal itself always then the extensive mini-reefs (look like honeycomb) on rocks at low tide all along the coast (CA at least, not sure how far north they go). Your article also made me wonder about how much richer the intertidal was before European arrival. I was just out on the LI Sound looking at some rocks covered in rockweed, some barnacles, and some periwinkles, and that's it. I wonder if it all used to be so much more abundant and diverse. OK and a final question--do you think the sand-builder worm reefs help slow down storm run-off into the ocean, retaining sediment (and all the pollutants that come with it)? So is that another possible function they perform for the ocean? Thank you for writing this!
It’s the same family as the sandcastle worm, I believe, but a different genus! Certainly similar, with the honeycomb holes, etc. In the Army Corps packet from the lower Delaware Bay survey the researchers certainly indicate that the reefs play some role in bracing the shoreline together, although it’s hard to imagine them doing very much in, say, a 12 foot storm surge! That said, you can reduce flooding a lot in bays and estuaries just by preventing really deep tidal channels from forming. I’m not sure how good those reefs are at entraining runoff contaminants. It would be interesting to test them for various elements after dry periods and storms, though. The one place i think i’ve seen them thriving is fairly environmentally degraded (sewage, historic dump)
I imagine it would be more like part of a team effort in mitigating the amount of discharge after a normal rainstorm. I love the test idea! And that's interesting, I wonder if that means that feed on those pollutants as nutrients
Fascinating piece and builder of unique habitats. Don't underestimate the diversity of life dwelling in the sand’s interstitial spaces, or the masters of sandy bottom camouflage like the monkfish.
I didn’t mean to disrespect the sandy bottom-dwellers, and I’m always amazed by flounder, clams, etc. It’s honestly incredible that so many animals get by in those environments, considering there’s only the one place to hide. But I do think it’s a limiting factor in terms of biodiversity! A little grass or even some rocks can exponentially increase the expected species just by creating some varied structure
Something I suspect is true, but didn’t have hard enough evidence to really elaborate on here, is that sand builders move in and out in cycles of succession, where they’ll dominate a given area for a while and then move elsewhere, allowing the reefs to break up and revert. In the Nova Scotia survey, which had been conducted regularly at fairly long intervals, 1970 was the first year they appeared!
Something I suspect is true, but didn’t have hard enough evidence to really elaborate on here, is that sand builders move in and out in cycles of succession, where they’ll dominate a given area for a while and then move elsewhere, allowing the reefs to break up and revert. In the Nova Scotia survey, which had been conducted regularly at fairly long intervals, 1970 was the first year they appeared!
Loved learning about this under-appreciated habitat engineer! They seem closely related to the sandcastle worm we have on the Pacific coast? which seem much more visible, if not the animal itself always then the extensive mini-reefs (look like honeycomb) on rocks at low tide all along the coast (CA at least, not sure how far north they go). Your article also made me wonder about how much richer the intertidal was before European arrival. I was just out on the LI Sound looking at some rocks covered in rockweed, some barnacles, and some periwinkles, and that's it. I wonder if it all used to be so much more abundant and diverse. OK and a final question--do you think the sand-builder worm reefs help slow down storm run-off into the ocean, retaining sediment (and all the pollutants that come with it)? So is that another possible function they perform for the ocean? Thank you for writing this!
It’s the same family as the sandcastle worm, I believe, but a different genus! Certainly similar, with the honeycomb holes, etc. In the Army Corps packet from the lower Delaware Bay survey the researchers certainly indicate that the reefs play some role in bracing the shoreline together, although it’s hard to imagine them doing very much in, say, a 12 foot storm surge! That said, you can reduce flooding a lot in bays and estuaries just by preventing really deep tidal channels from forming. I’m not sure how good those reefs are at entraining runoff contaminants. It would be interesting to test them for various elements after dry periods and storms, though. The one place i think i’ve seen them thriving is fairly environmentally degraded (sewage, historic dump)
I imagine it would be more like part of a team effort in mitigating the amount of discharge after a normal rainstorm. I love the test idea! And that's interesting, I wonder if that means that feed on those pollutants as nutrients
Fascinating piece and builder of unique habitats. Don't underestimate the diversity of life dwelling in the sand’s interstitial spaces, or the masters of sandy bottom camouflage like the monkfish.
I didn’t mean to disrespect the sandy bottom-dwellers, and I’m always amazed by flounder, clams, etc. It’s honestly incredible that so many animals get by in those environments, considering there’s only the one place to hide. But I do think it’s a limiting factor in terms of biodiversity! A little grass or even some rocks can exponentially increase the expected species just by creating some varied structure
That might eliminate the sand builder worm’s niche and we’d all be poorer for it.
Something I suspect is true, but didn’t have hard enough evidence to really elaborate on here, is that sand builders move in and out in cycles of succession, where they’ll dominate a given area for a while and then move elsewhere, allowing the reefs to break up and revert. In the Nova Scotia survey, which had been conducted regularly at fairly long intervals, 1970 was the first year they appeared!
Something I suspect is true, but didn’t have hard enough evidence to really elaborate on here, is that sand builders move in and out in cycles of succession, where they’ll dominate a given area for a while and then move elsewhere, allowing the reefs to break up and revert. In the Nova Scotia survey, which had been conducted regularly at fairly long intervals, 1970 was the first year they appeared!