Importance of biofilm as food source for shrimp (Farfantepenaeus paulensis) evaluated by stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N)

Assessment of Nutrient Allocation and Metabolic Turnover Rate in Pacific White ShrimpLitopenaeus vannameiCo-Fed Live MacroalgaeUlva clathrataand Inert Feed: Dual Stable Isotope Analysis

“…In contrast, inert feed can contribute nutrients that are scarce or absent in the natural productivity or live food, but the incorporation of such nutrients is limited by low feed digestibility or unsuitable formulation. Co-feeding experiments conducted on postlarval shrimp and larval fish have shown that available live food (zooplankton, biofilm) frequently contributes greater proportions of nutrients than those supplied by co-fed inert feeds to the growth of the consuming animals (Abreu et al 2007, GamboaDelgado et al 2008, Jomori et al 2008, Gamboa-Delgado & Le Vay, 2009a). In the current experiment, the dietary carbon contributions from the inert feed to muscle tissue were significantly greater when compared with dietary carbon incorporation to whole bodies.…”

Towards a Latin American and Caribbean international census of marine microbes (LACar ? ICoMM): overview and discussion on some current research directions

“…Recent studies on phytoplankton dynamics complete this picture of phytoplankton diversity and dynamics in South American estuarine systems, including those of Calliari et al (2005) and Licursi et al (2006) in the estuarine systems of the Rio de la Plata. On the other hand, phytoplankton studies, together with food web and biogeochemical fluxes estimations are intensively carried out in the upwelling system off Chile (Herrera & Escribano 2005, Anabalón et al 2007, Böttjer & Morales 2007, as well as in subtropical lagoons in Southern Brazil, focusing in phytoplankton dynamics and trophic fate (Abreu et al 1995, Abreu et al 2007, and in South Atlantic oceanographic frontal systems (Brandini et al 1996). We underline the importance of combining both traditional microscopy assessments combined with cytometry or epifluorescence counts and molecular sequencing for the monitoring and identification of dominant and rare cyanobacteria and auotrophic eukaryotes present in the different ecosystems considered.…”

Biofilm responses to marine fish farm wastes

“…Moreover, biofilm communities are the food source of many types of organisms in aquatic systems such as, invertebrates, including rasping grazers, deposit, planktonic and subdeposit feeders, fish and higher vertebrates (Baird and Thistle, 1986;Decho and Moriarty, 1990;Abreu et al, 2007;Kuwae et al, 2008). Thus, biofilms are considered to represent a trophic link between dissolved compounds in the water column and the higher trophic levels of the ecosystem (Hynes, 1970).…”