Comparing trophic structure of a subtropical bay as estimated from mass-balance food web model and stable isotope analysis

Ecosystem modeling as a framework to convert a multi-disciplinary research approach into a useful model for the Araçá Bay (Brazil)

“…To the extent of our knowledge, the absolute (1163.88 g*m −2 ) and relative (93%) biomasses of benthos recorded in Araçá Bay are the highest biomass entered in Ecopath models found so far. Despite the role of benthos' biomass, it has been shown relatively relevant in other bay Ecopath models (Du et al, 2015;Dutta et al, 2017) sometimes resulting in high recycling (Lin et al, 2004;Byron et al, 2011;Frisk et al, 2011). The biomass unveiled in Araçá Bay produced a high Detritivore/Herbivore rate (more than 1000) and a Finn recycling index of 32%, higher than values previously registered in Ecopath models in other bay areas (see for example, Sakamoto and Shirakihara, 2017;Chen et al, 2015).…”

Elucidating stygofaunal trophic web interactions via isotopic ecology

“…Our data on nitrogen CSIA pinpointed two main trophic levels marked by a small but clear separation between the top predators—adult beetles (B, M and S)—and primary consumer amphipods (AM1, AM2 and AM3) under both rainfall conditions. Compared to other ecosystems [29], the Sturt Meadows aquifer shows a very simple and truncated trophic web dominated by omnivorous habits. This is consistent with previous assumptions [67] due to the lack of primary producers [9] and scarce nutrient availability [79].…”

“…Single amino acids can be divided into essential (EAA) and non-essential (NEAA). Whilst primary producers (plants, algae and bacteria) biosynthetise de novo EAA from a bulk carbon pool, animals lack these enzymatic pathways and acquire EAA from their diet [29]. As a result, tracking of EAA allows carbon fingerprinting of food sources down to the base of food webs [30].…”

Natural distinction of carbon and nitrogen isotopic niches in common fish species across marine biotopes in the Yellow River estuary

“…Increasing numbers of studies have shown that coastal and estuarine ecological connectivity plays an essential role in ecosystem conservation and restoration (Du et al., 2015 ). In this study, we focused on the variation in stable isotope space.…”

“…The trophic level (TL), which ranged from 2.1 to 4.5 using a unique baseline (Figure 3 ), indicated that the fish species in our study system covered a distance of 2.4, which differed from the general trophic pattern of fish communities in Chinese coastal waters, such as the range from 3.0 to 4.1 for the Changjiang Estuary at the junction of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea (Chang et al., 2014 ), from 3.1 to 3.6 in the coastal waters of the Yellow Sea (Feng et al., 2014 ), and from 2.9 to 3.9 at the junction of the East China Sea and South China Sea (Du et al., 2015 ). Their trophic level was also wider than that in the western Mediterranean (range from 2.9 to 4.0, Valls et al, 2014 ), but lower than that in the Gulf of Maine (range from 3.7 to 5.2, Schartup et al., 2019 ).…”