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Effects of biological behaviors of benthic bivalve (Corbicula japonica) on its passive transport

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Abstract

The bivalve Corbicula japonica is a popular food in Japan. The abundance of the clam in a lake changes over time. Clam transport is assumed to be passive even after the clam’s settlement. But it is not clear whether clams can be considered like sand particles, or whether biological features of the clams affect their movement. Features of clams that differ from sediment particles and may affect movement include secretion of mucous threads, use of the foot byssus, burrowing, as well as the clam’s shape. The aim of the work was to determine whether these biological features modified the interaction with the hydrodynamics which would affect the transport of juvenile and adult clams within a lake. We performed a series of laboratory experiments to measure the critical shear stresses of clams for transport. The mucous threads substantially decreased critical shear stress and in contrast, the byssus significantly increased critical shear stress. We then performed field measurements in Lake Shinji and evaluated the possibilities of clam transport depending on these biological behaviors. Thus, the evaluated shear stresses for clams will be applied into a clam dispersal and transport simulation model, which can be useful to understand the strategy of clams’ survivals.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available by contacting the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We extend our special thanks to Dr. Nanri, T. for his support in performing the clam’s mucous threads experiment. We also got useful advice and comments as to the flume test and field experiment from Dr. Hamaguchi, M. and Dr. Semura, H. We are also grateful to Prof. Brooke, J. (The University of Adelaide) for his helpful comments on improving this manuscript. In this paper, we used Lake Shinji bathymetry data made by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. Finally, we would like thank to Shimane Prefecture and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for their financial and field measurement support in performing this study.

Funding

The authors would like thank to Shimane Prefecture and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for their financial support.

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Correspondence to Hiroshi Yajima.

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Supplementary material 1 Fig. S1 Corbicula japonica with mucous threads dyed in red in a flume test. (TIFF 630 kb)

10750_2020_4486_MOESM2_ESM.tiff

Supplementary material 2 Fig. S2 Corbicula japonica resisting the flow to avoid transport using its foot byssus. (TIFF 522 kb)

Supplementary material 3 (MOV 48543 kb)

Supplementary material 4 (MP4 4503 kb)

Supplementary material 5 (MOV 22295 kb)

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Yajima, H., Morohara, R. & Yamada, M. Effects of biological behaviors of benthic bivalve (Corbicula japonica) on its passive transport. Hydrobiologia 848, 825–839 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04486-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04486-6

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