>What does beach renourishment do to littoral species such as Donax variabilis?
>Are they smothered?
 
 
It would depend on how fast the new sediment is added relative to the
burrowing ability of the animal.  Donax is a very rapid burrower and might
survive.  From his alter ego as an ichnologist, Dr. Rindsberg should be
able to come up with some information on burrowing escape structures.  I
have seen Cretaceous examples from Alberta in which unionids buried several
inches in a flood were able to dig back up to the surface.  Unfortunately
for them, the sand deposit apparently changed the stream's path and they
all died anyway.
 
David Campbell
 
"Old Seashells"
 
Department of Geology
CB 3315 Mitchell Hall
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill NC 27599-3315
USA
 
919-962-0685
FAX 919-966-4519
 
"He had discovered an unknown bivalve, forming a new genus"-E. A. Poe, The
Gold Bug