Carbon dynamics of Deep Bay, eastern Pearl River estuary, China. II: Trophic relationship based on carbon- and nitrogen-stable isotopes

Lee, Joe

doi:10.3354/meps205001

Cited by 103 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The larval fishes had δ 13 C signatures (-19 to -17 ‰) close to those of mangrove invertebrates (-25 to -19 ‰;Rodelli et al 1984, Stoner & Zimmerman 1988, Marguillier et al 1997, Lee 2000, Schwamborn et al 2002, but these are an unlikely food source. Since stable isotopes from food sources accumulate in muscle tissue in terms of weeks to months (Gearing 1991), or during a 4-fold increase in weight for fast-growing organisms (Fry & Arnold 1982), it is more likely that these recently settled fishes still possessed an offshore carbon signature typical of pelagic species and their planktonic food; stable carbon-isotope values of phyto-/zooplankton and of pelagic fishes from the open ocean typically lie around -22 to -20 ‰ and -18 to -16 ‰, respectively , Rau et al 1983, Rodelli et al 1984, Boutton 1991, Herzka et al 2001.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Segregation along multiple resource axes in a tropical seagrass fish community

Nagelkerken¹,

Velde²,

Verberk³

et al. 2006

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Segregation of resources is supposed to be a mechanism for coexistence of species and/or life stages when resources are limiting and competition between species occurs. In seagrass beds, fish species richness is lower than on coral reefs, but food abundance is in general higher. In this case, food segregation may not occur. Here, the null hypothesis is tested that species show no segregation in feeding with respect to time, space and diet. The structure of the food web in a tropical seagrass bed revealed that the seagrass fish community consisted of species feeding at 3 trophic levels: (1) herbivores, (2) omnivores, zoobenthivores and zooplanktivores, and (3) piscivores. The data suggest that herbivores partitioned food by specialising on seagrass epiphytes, seagrass leaves or macroalgae from the seagrass bed, with 1 species presumably feeding in adjacent mangroves. Fishes at the second trophic level showed temporal segregation in feeding habits between fish families, while species within families showed segregation in food type and source. At the third trophic level, 1 piscivorous species was found. The majority of fish species showed a very narrow diet breadth with a significant segregation in resource-use. The null hypothesis was rejected since feeding segregation was not random for time, space and diet, viz. feeding time and diet (33.3%), diet only (25.5%), time, habitat and diet (15.2%), habitat and diet (13.4%), time only (3.5%) and habitat only (2.6%). Segregation in resource use was present along 1 to 3 resource axes simultaneously, which could support coexistence of species that favour comparable food types if food were limiting.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Segregation along multiple resource axes in a tropical seagrass fish community

Nagelkerken¹,

Velde²,

Verberk³

et al. 2006

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Coprophagy is probably an important aspect of the feeding strategy of grapsid crabs in tropical mangroves, while their shredding activities may also benefit other components of the estuary. The dependence of grapsid crabs on food resources other than fresh mangrove leaf litter is reflected by the commonly observed, more enriched δ 13 C (~ -24 ‰) signature relative to that of mangrove litter (-27 ‰) (Rodelli et al 1984, Lee 2000, Bouillon et al 2002.…”

Section: Shredded Leaf Litter -Alternative Form Of Mangrove Export?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An emerging picture suggests that organic matter export from stands of mangroves is both limited in quantity and spatial extent (Lee 1995), and some systems may even import organic matter (Alongi 1998). Further, the trophic value of outwelled mangrove matter to nearshore consumers is debatable, as most studies employing chemical tracers such as stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur record little resemblance between consumers and mangrove signatures (Rodelli et al 1984, Newell et al 1995, Lee 2000.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grapsid crabs mediate link between mangrove litter production and estuarine planktonic food chains

Werry¹,

Lee

2005

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

Self Cite

104

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The fate of crab-processed mangrove Avicennia marina leaf litter was compared with decomposition of whole leaf litter of A. marina and Rhizophora stylosa. Shredding by the grapsid crab Parasesarma erythodactyla resulted in reduction of mangrove leaf litter to fragments ~200 µm in the faecal material. The C/N ratio decreased linearly with time, attaining ~20 after 28 d. While the δ 13 C signature remained constant, the δ 15 N value steadily changed from ~4 ‰ to 1.8 ‰ over 4 wk. Decomposing whole leaf litter, however, showed only modest increases in %N content with time, attaining a C/N ratio of ~20 only after 24 wk, with no significant temporal trend in either δ 13 C or δ 15 N. δ 15 N of decomposing crab faecal material was significantly negatively correlated with surface bacteria density. Demonstrating a sigmoid pattern of increase, surface bacteria density on crab-processed leaf fragments was ~70 times higher than that on whole leaf litter after 28 d of decomposition. Analysis of the C/N ratio, δ 13 C and δ 15 N signatures of micro-POM collected from 5 mangrove waterways in southern Moreton Bay, Australia, failed to detect significant differences in these parameters at 3 distances from mangrove forests, but location of the waterways had a strong effect. In laboratory feeding experiments involving the copepods Temora turbinata and Oithona rigidis, a diet of faecal material from crabs significantly improved copepod survivorship compared with a diet of the alga Nannochloropsis sp. or the no-food treatment for both copepods. Stable isotope analysis of the copepods suggest that the animals were able to utilise both crab faecal material and algal carbon, with greater assimilation of the former food source, in the mixed diet (Nannochloropsis + crab faeces) treatment. By acting as shredders, grapsid crabs process large quantities and effect rapid enrichment of mangrove organic production, potentially benefiting both benthic and pelagic estuarine consumers.KEY WORDS: Mangroves · Grapsid crabs · Copepods · Outwelling · Decomposition · Micro-POM · Estuarine food chains Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher

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“…Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher sources (Lee 2000, Kang et al 2003, Yokoyama & Ishihi 2003. In such cases, macrobenthos were expected to selectively feed on benthic microalgae, since, in general, the contribution of benthic microalgae to the OM pool of tidal flat sediment is small (Cook et al 2004.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%