Immunological methods for food web analysis in a soft-bottom benthic community

Feller, Robert J.; Taghon, Gary L.; Gallagher, Eugene D.; Kenny, George E.; Jumars, Peter A.

doi:10.1007/bf00387052

Cited by 78 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Stomach content analyses show directly what is ingested, but there are uncertainties in the method; not all ingested material is assimilated, some food items are dissolved in the stomach much more quickly than others, and the method reflects only the feeding during short periods just before capture (Menzel 1959;Feller et al 1979;Michener and Schell 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food habits of the farmer damselfishStegastes nigricansinferred by stomach content, stable isotope, and fatty acid composition analyses

Hata

Umezawa

2011

Ecological Research

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This content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere in any language, and all authors have contributed significantly, and are in agreement with the content of the manuscript. 2 AbstractThe territorial damselfish, Stegastes nigricans, maintains algal farms by excluding invading herbivores and weeding unpalatable algae from its territories. In Okinawa, Japan, S. nigricans farms are exclusively dominated by Polysiphonia sp., a highly digestible filamentous rhodophyte. This study was aimed at determining the diet of S.nigricans in Okinawa and its dependency on these almost-monoculture algal farms based on stomach contents and chemical analyses. Stomach content analyses revealed that all available food items in the algal farms (i.e., algae, benthic animal inhabitants, trapped detritus) were contained in fish stomachs, but amorphous organic matter accounted for 68% of the contents. Therefore, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios and fatty acid (FA) compositions were analyzed to trace items actually assimilated in their bodies. Stable isotope analyses showed that benthic animals were an important food source even for this farmer fish. Two essential FAs (EFA), 20:4n6 and 20:5n3, which are produced only by rhodophytes among available food items, were rich in the muscle tissue of S. nigricans as well as in algal mats and detritus, suggesting that algal mats contribute EFAs to S. nigricans directly and indirectly through the food web. In conclusion, S. nigricans ingested algal mats, detritus and benthic animals maintained within its farm. Algae and detritus were original sources of EFAs, and benthic animals, which were much more abundant in the farms than in outside territories, provided a nitrogen-rich dietary source for the fish.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food habits of the farmer damselfishStegastes nigricansinferred by stomach content, stable isotope, and fatty acid composition analyses

Hata

Umezawa

2011

Ecological Research

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“…The most extensive, early immunochemical applications were for food-web analyses, i.e. identifying taxa in macerated gut contents (Feller et al 1979, Feller & Gallagher 1982. Although trophic groups were usually distinguished, the antibodies produced in these studies provided limited taxonomic resolution; because of extensive antibody cross-reactions among species, the resolution rarely extended below the ordinal or familial taxonomic levels.…”

Section: Immunologicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Techniques for the identification of bivalve larvae

Garland¹,

Zimmer

2002

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Quantification of planktonic larval distributions has been limited by processing time, given the large numbers of samples generated by extensive field surveys. Until recently, the only technique available for reliable species identification of bivalve larvae was direct microscopic observation, but even this method is restricted to larval stages and species that can be distinguished morphologically. Molecular methods (e.g. antibody and oligonucleotide markers) show considerable promise for identifying bivalve larvae to species, regardless of developmental stage, alleviating ambiguity or subjectivity of some traditional, morphology-based taxonomy. Moreover, attaching species-specific molecular probes to fluorescent reporter tags, for example, has great potential for automated, expedited sample-processing. Optical identification techniques are promising, but probably not at the species level. Current methods of distinguishing bivalve larvae -morphological, molecular (i.e. immunological and DNA-based), or optical -are reviewed here to facilitate the selection of appropriate techniques for a given research problem and to stimulate the development of creative alternative approaches for rapid and accurate species identification.

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“…The most extensive, early immunochemical applications were for food-web analyses -that is, for identifying taxa in macerated gut contents (e.g., Feller et al 1979;Feller and Gallagher 1982). Although trophic groups usually were distinguished, the antibodies produced in these studies provided limited taxonomic resolution, which was rarely lower than order or family due to extensive antibody cross-reactions among species.…”

Section: A3 Immunological Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal variability and vertical structure in larval abundance : the potential roles of biological and physical processes

Garland¹

2000

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Recruitment variability in benthic invertebrate populations results from variability in planktonic larval supply and from processes occurring during and after larval settlement onto the seafloor. The focus of this thesis is on the temporal and spatial variability in larval supply, the extent to which planktonic larval distributions are determined by larval behaviors and physical processes, and how differentially distributed larvae are advected to potential adult habitats by inner-shelf circulation such as wind-driven upwelling and downwelling. This research capitalized on two sets of larval concentration time series, collected by moored zooplankton pumps, and complemented by synoptic hydrographic time-series data.High variability was observed in larval concentration time series, yet the variations were nonrandom. Within the context of the sampling regime, two dominant modes of variability existed. One source of variation was associated with the synoptic meteorological time scale, and the other with the diurnal time scale. Over relatively long time scales, larvae were associated with particular water masses, defined by temperature-salinity characteristics. Within a particular water mass, group-specific vertical patterns were observed over both long and short time scales. "Lowfrequency" temporal variatious resulted primarily from wind-driven cross-shelf transport of water masses in which larvae were differentially distributed relative to the thermocline. "Higherfrequency" variations were attributed to diel vertical migrations. These findings suggest that larvae were passive to the degree that they were horizontally advected with certain water masses, but active to the degree that they could alter their vertical position in the water column.Local hydrodynamics, larval associations with specific water masses, and the vertical structure of larvae resulted in differential larval transport to potential adult habitats. Larval data indicate the times and places of possible coupling between water-column organisms and the benthos, leading to certain predictions regarding when and where larval settlement should be greatest.Time-series measurements of larval concentration yield a new perspective on the temporal and spatial variability in larval distributions at an inner-shelf site. Determining how processes operating at the synoptic and diurnal time scales are coupled, and to what extent they influence recruitment variability, represents a challenging extension of this work.

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Immunological methods for food web analysis in a soft-bottom benthic community

Cited by 78 publications

References 27 publications

Food habits of the farmer damselfishStegastes nigricansinferred by stomach content, stable isotope, and fatty acid composition analyses

Food habits of the farmer damselfishStegastes nigricansinferred by stomach content, stable isotope, and fatty acid composition analyses

Techniques for the identification of bivalve larvae

Temporal variability and vertical structure in larval abundance : the potential roles of biological and physical processes

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