Organic detritus of a tropical estuary

✍ Scribed by S. Z. Qasim; V. N. Sankaranarayanan

• Book ID: 104748815
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1972
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 806 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0025-3162
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00383549

✦ Synopsis

Organic detritus of the Cochin Backwater (India) is largely composed of fine silt and sand particles around which organic matter adheres and forms aggregates. In addition f~ plankton, large quantities of benthic algae, rooted plants, animal matter, suspended soft mud and the material brought down by the rivers and land runoff constitute the mare sources of detritus. Detritus sedimentation in the estuary attains its maximum from April to June. DctrRns forms a major portion of seston, while phytoplankton productivity constitutes 0A to 1.0 % of settled detritus. DetritaI pigments include degraded chlorophyll (phaeophytin), which has a marked seasonal variation; detrital carbon, phosphorus and nitrogen show little change during the year. The caloric value of detritus, calculated from protein, carbohydrate and lipid fractions and also from total carbon, indicates that scdimerited detritus does not have a high nutritional value. However, being a readily available material, its entry into the food chain seems to increase the efficiency of energy transfer from one trophie level to another.