one deriving its energy directly from the living Spartina and the other 

 deriving its energy from detritus and algae. 



Maintenance of population and community stability are shown to be 

 paramount factors in preservation of the ecosystem. (H.D.) 



Keywords: energy flow, salt marsh ecosystem, detritus, food web, 

 Georgia 



III-E-8 



Shanholtzer, S.F. 1973. Energy flow, food habits and population dynamics 



of Uca pugnax in a salt marsh system. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Georgia, 



100 pp. (Diss. Abstr. 34:3755-B) 



The energy budget, food habits and population dynamics of Uca pugnax 

 have been studied in the Georgia salt marshes. Uca pugnax , a detritivore, 

 serves as an important link in the highly productive detrital salt marsh 

 energy budget, accounting for 15 percent or more of the secondary con- 

 sumption. This energy, traceable to both major producers of the marsh 

 ( Spartina alterni flora and benthic diatoms), is extracted from surface 

 sediments and made available to terrestrial, marsh and aquatic consumers 

 through predation, parasitism, or saprophagy. 



Fiddler crabs were known to be omnivorous, feeding on algae, detritus, 

 bacteria, and animal remains. The direct food potential of the cellulytic 

 detritus of S. alterni flora was implicated by the presence of cellulase in 

 the intestinal tract of U. pugnax . The high incidence of fungi in the 

 ingested materials provicTes evidence for another energy pathway from S. 

 alterni flora to U. pugnax not previously considered. 



A model of energy flow through a U. pugnax population has been con- 

 structed. This has served to produce estimates of energy flow and its 

 partitioning through the population and marsh system. (A. A. -modified) 



Keywords: energy flow, food habits, fiddler crabs, detritus, salt 

 marshes, Georgia 



III-E-9 



Brickman, L.M. 1972. Base food chain relationships in coastal salt marsh 



ecosystems. Ph.D. Thesis. Lehigh University. 190 pp. (Diss. Abstr. 



33:2185-B) 



The distribution and abundance of the meiobenthos was studied monthly 

 from October 1969 to December 1970 at six stations within the Dividing 

 Creek watershed in Cumberland County, New Jersey. Three stations 

 were located subtidally in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of 

 Dividing Creek, and one station was located in the Spartina alterniflora 



126 



