Three major trends can be associated with this : 1 ) Reduction in suspension feeding epifauna 2 ) Increasing abundance of infauna 3 ) An intermediate stage of mobile epifauna.
12.
Others fed mostly on epifauna ( invertebrates on top of the seafloor surface, also called " epibenthos " ), or alternatively on infauna ( invertebrates that burrow into the seafloor substrate ).
13.
At depth under the gyre lies one of the most food-poor areas on the planet, which therefore supports very low densities and biomass of benthic infauna, or animals residing in the sediment.
14.
When calibrated using traditional grab samples or cores coupled with a few SP images, resolution allows identification of some infauna including the tubicolous sabellid polychaetes, a bisected nereid, and the mound produced by a sea cucumber seen in Figure 2.
15.
In this way the contents of " N . bicalcarata " pitchers is controlled such that organic matter does not accumulate to the point of putrefaction, which can lead to the demise of pitcher infauna ( which also appear to benefit the plant ) and sometimes the pitcher itself.
16.
The question of whether infaunal animals " steal " food from their hosts, or whether they are involved in a mutually beneficial ( domicile, protection and food from the plant, while in return, the infauna helps to break down the prey, increase the rate of digestion and keep bacterial numbers low ".
17.
In 1986, Mitsuru Hotta and Rusjdi Tamin included plant material belonging to " N . dubia " and " N . inermis " in their description of " pitcher infauna, the same authors, together with M . Kato and T . Itino, identified " N . inermis " from Mount Gadut as " N . bongso ".
18.
Associations with species of pitcher plants are so many and varied that the study of " Nepenthes " infauna is something of a discipline in its own right . " Camponotus schmitzi ", the diving ant, has an intimate degree of mutualism with the pitcher plant " Nepenthes bicalcarata "; it not only retrieves prey and detritus from beneath the surface of the liquid in the pitchers, but repels herbivores, and cleans the pitcher peristome, maintaining its slippery nature.
