relative to Long Island Sound suggested that the greater benthic 

 biomass in Long Island Sound was due to larger phytoplankton 

 populations (see section 4.1). 



Sanders described two major faunal assemblages from 

 Buzzards Bay: one, present in fine-grained sediments (78-91% 

 silt-clay) was dominated by deposit-feeders, particularly the 

 bivalve Nucula proxima and the polychaete Nephtys incisa ; the 

 other, characterized by filter-feeding species of the amphipod 

 genus Ampelisca , was restricted to sandier sediments (Tables 6 and 

 7) • 



During the same sampling program, Weiser (1960) 

 characterized the meiofauna of Buzzards Bay. Nematodes and 

 kinorhynchs comprised 89 to 99% of the total meiofauna. A sandy 

 bottom community, characterized by nematodes of the genus 

 Odontophora and Leptonemella , and a muddy bottom community 

 characterized by the nematode Terschellinqa lonqicaudata and three 

 kinorhynch species was recognized. 



Subsequent to Sanders' descriptive work, research was 

 carried out to characterize the ecological and sedimentological 

 implications of the community types evident in Buzzards Bay 

 (Rhoads, 1963, 1967, 1973, 1974; Young, 1968, 1971; Rhoads and 

 Young, 1970; Driscoll, 1975; Young and Southard; 1976). Much of 

 this work focused on the effects of the Nucula - Nephtvs assemblage 

 on surface sediment properties. For example, Rhoads (1963, 1967) 

 found that relatively low-densities of deposit feeders extensively 

 reworked the top 2-3 cm of the bottom over a two-month period. 

 This biogenic reworking was limited to the top 10 cm of sediment 

 and resulted in biogenically graded deposits, irregular layering, 

 mottling, and fecal pellet layers. This intensive bioturbation is 

 an important agent in the physical diagenesis of marine sediments. 

 Young (1968, 1971) found that the fine-grained facies in Buzzards 

 Bay were characterized by a 2-3 cm surface floccular layer 

 comprised of fecal pellets, organic detritus, plankton, and 

 colloidal mud. This "zone of fecal production" was found to be 

 readily resuspendable (Young and Southard, 1978) and, therefore 

 could be an important mechanism in nutrient exchange between 

 benthic and pelagic ecosystems (Figure 10) . Young estimated that 

 between 98.0 and 99.5 % of the top 2-5 cm of deposited sediment in 

 silt-clay facies of Buzzards Bay is resuspended. In a related 

 study, performed immediately south of the Buzzards Bay Disposal 

 Site, Rhoads and Young (1970) concluded that the physical 

 instability of this floccular, fecal surface layer tended to: 1) 

 clog the filtering structures of suspension-feeding organisms, 2) 

 bury newly-settled suspension-feeder larvae, and 3) prevent sessile 

 epifauna from attaching to the unstable mud bottom. This 

 modification of the benthic environment by deposit feeders, 

 resulting in the exclusion of many suspension feeders and sessile 

 epifauna, is an example of "trophic-group amensalism" (Rhoads and 

 Young, 1970) . 



