title: Chilling and freezing resistance of two interstitial polychaetes from a sandy tidal beach.
abstract: The two mesopsammal polychaetes, Hesionides arenaria and Trilobodrilus axi, show a relatively high resistance to cold temperatures in experiments. Great differences, however, between supercooled and frozen individuals exist. In chilling experiments T. axi is much less sensitive (no damage after 5 h at -12° C) than H. arenaria (50% mortality after 1 h at -7° C). The freezing resistance is essentially much less, but identical for the two species (100% mortality at -10° C after 1 h exposure). The differences in the supercooling resistance of the two species are in agreement with their geographic distribution and their seasonal migration behavior in the sandy beach locality.
authors.affiliation: II Zoologisches Institut der Universität Göttingen, Berliner Str. 28, D-3400, Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Westheide
authors.affiliation: II Zoologisches Institut der Universität Göttingen, Berliner Str. 28, D-3400, Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: Maritta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: von Basse