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Bioturbation facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Bioturbation is the reworking of soils and sediments by animals or plants. It disturbs and changes sediment. Any animal living in the soil or on the bottom under water may disturb the sediment by moving it around. Burrowing, eating and defecation of sediment grains, building galleries (etc.) all disturb the sediment.

Common bioturbators include annelids ("ringed worms") such as oligochaetes, bivalves like mussels, clams, gastropods, holothurians.

Fossil sites with bioturbation do not leave traces of soft-bodied animals. In contrast, fossil sites with undisturbed sediment have given rise to important lagerstätten with many impressions of small soft-bodied invertebrates.

Images for kids

  • Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) resting in a crowd on Wahlbergøya, Svalbard (3)

    Sediment on the left tusk of a walrus in Svalbard

  • Chironomidae

    Chironomid larvae.

  • Benthic bioturbation and bioirrigation

    Bioturbation and bioirrigation in the sediment at the bottom of a coastal ecosystems

  • Marine Nitrogen Cycle

    The marine nitrogen cycle.

  • Camas pocket gopher mounds

    Pocket gopher mounds

  • Planolites

    Planolite fossil

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Bioturbación para niños

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Bioturbation Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.