Digestive environments of benthic macroinvertebrate guts: Enzymes, surfactants and dissolved organic matter

Clicks: 4
ID: 293355
1997
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #203 of 1,397 articles by views in journal of marine research

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 1,397 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Abstract
Hydrolytic enzyme activity, surfactancy, and dissolved organic matter in the digestive lumens of 19 benthic echinoderm and polychaete species were examined, using consistent and quantifiable methods. Enzyme activities were compared with those of extracellular enzymes from ambient sediments. Enzyme activities ranged over five orders of magnitude, with averages decreasing in the order polychaetes > echinoderms > sediment. Highest activities in animals were usually associated with the fluid phase in midgut sections, with posteriorward decreases indicating little export to the external environment. At some phyletic levels, activity correlated inversely with animal size. Hydrolase patterns reflected food type; for example, high 1ipase:protease ratios in carnivores reflected esterified lipids in their diets. High surfactant activity was found in gut sections having high enzyme activity. Deposit feeders had the most intense surfactancy, including evidence for micelles. While enzymes reflected the biochemical nature of the digestible food substrate regardless of feeding mode (e.g., deposit vs. suspension feeder), surfactants reflected dilution of this digestible substrate with mineral grains. Dissolved organic matter levels were high, with amino acids reaching levels > 1 M and lipids commonly 1 g L-r. Among polychaete deposit-feeders, low molecular weight amino acids reflected the composition of the food substrate, but were present at much higher concentrations than could be explained by sediment present in the gut-suggesting longer residence times for fluid than for transiting sediment particles. Deposit feeder digestive fluids are better able to solubilize sedimentary food substrates than are sedimentary extracellular enzymes, owing to either more powerful solubilizing agents or to their deployment in freely diffusing, dissolved form. Gut environments may lead to chemical condensation as well as solubilization reactions.
Reference Key
openalex_W2115348464 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Lawrence M. Mayer, Linda L. Schick, Robert F. L. Self, Peter A. Jumars, Robert H. Findlay, Chen Zhen, Stephen Sampson
Journal journal of marine research
Year 1997
DOI
10.1357/0022240973224247
URL
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.