CONTENTS 



Page 



PREFACE iii 



FIGURES vii 



TABLES viii 



ACKNOWLEDGhENTS ix 



CHAPTER 1. GENERAL FEATURES OF TIDAL FLATS 1 



1.1 INTRODUCTION 1 



1.2 THE NEK ENGLAND COASTAL ENVIRONMENT 1 



1.3 GEOLOGICAL, PHYSICAL, AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS 



OF TIDAL FLATS 4 



CHAPTER 2. PRODUCERS, DECOMPOSERS, AND ENERGY FLOW 9 



2.1 INTRODUCTION 9 



2.2 PRODUCERS 9 



2.2.1 Microalgae 9 



2.2.2 Macroflo ra H 



2.2.3 Phytoplankton H 



2.2.4 Photosynthetic and CheTOSynthetic Bacter ia 12 



2.3 THE DECOMPOSERS 12 



2.4 ENERGY FLOW AND FOOD WEB RELATIONSHIPS 14 



CHAPTER 3. BENTHIC INVERTEBRATES 18 



3.1 INTRODUCTION 18 



3.2 BENTHIC EPIFAUNA 18 



3.3 BENTHIC INFAUNA 25 



CHAPTER 4. FISHES 36 



4.1 INTRODUCTION 36 



4.2 TROPHIC RELATIONSHIPS 36 



4.3 GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS 37 



4.4 MIGRATORY PATTERNS 38 



4.5 REGIONAL PATTERNS 38 



4.5.1 South of Cape Cod 38 



4.5.2 Gulf of Maine . 44 



4.6 THE DEPENDENCE AND ROLE OF FISH ON TIDAL FLATS 47 



