[Coral-List] functions of soft sediment?

[Danielle Jayewardene]

Dear coral-list members,

Do you have evidence/information on the functions and services 
(biological-, geochemical-, physical) of marine soft sediment/sand 
habitat? If so I would love to hear about this.

I wish to compile such information for my Habitat Conservation Division 
of the NOAA Fisheries, Pacific Islands Regional Office in Honolulu, so 
we may assess from a management and ecosystem perspective whether 
impacts to sand bottom (within, adjacent and even away from reef 
systems) need to be better regulated in the Pacific Islands.

Examples of sand bottom functions might be for habitat, movement 
corridors, feeding, recycling of nutrients/detoxification of pollutants, 
physical buffers, and/or for fisheries/marine mammals/sea birds through 
trophic links (e.g. consumers feeding on organisms that in turn feed on 
soft sediment invertebrates).

Many thanks for your attention!
Aloha,
Danielle

-- 
Danielle Jayewardene Ph.D.
Coral Reef Ecologist
1601 Kapiolani Blvd, Suite 1110
Honolulu, HI 96814
Phone # (808) 944 2162
Fax # (808) 973 2941
Danielle.Jayewardene at noaa.gov