Bioirrigation
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Bioirrigation refers to the process of
Marine coastal ecosystems often have organisms that destabilize sediment. They change the physical state of the sediment. Thus improving the conditions for other organisms and themselves. These organisms often also cause bioturbation, which is commonly used interchangeably or in reference with bioirrigation.[1]
Bioirrigation works as two different processes. These processes are known as
Bioirrigation is responsible for a large amount of
Bioirrigation's Role in Elemental Cycling
Bioirrigation is a main component in element cycling. Some of these elements include: Magnesium, Nitrogen, Calcium, Strontium, Molybdenum, and Uranium. Other elements are only displaced at certain steps in the bioirrigation process. Aluminium, Iron, Cobalt, Copper, Zinc, and Cerium are all affected at the start of the process, when the larvae begins to dig into the sediment. While Manganese, Nickel, Arsenic, Cadmium and Caesium were all mobilized slightly after the burrowing process.[2]
Challenges to Studying Bioirrigation
When trying to describe this biologically driven dynamic process, scientists have not been able to develop a 3D image of the process yet.
New Mechanisms to Study Bioirrigation
There is a hybrid medical imaging technique using a position emission tomography/computed tomography (
Ecological Importance of Bioirrigation
When coastal ecosystems do not have bioirrigating organisms, like lugworms, it results in a lot of sedimentary problems. Some of these problems include clogging of the sediment with
Economic Impacts
Two organisms that contribute to the bioturbation of soil are
Case Study: Boston Harbor
The sediments of marine environments are important sites of methylmercury (MMHg) production. This production provides important sources of this MMHg to near-shore and off-shore water columns and food webs. Scientists have measured the flux in production across 4 different stations in the Boston Harbor which had different bioirrigation site densities. There is a strong