Mangrove Food Web Structure and Isotopic Niche

Medina-Contreras, Diana; Arenas, Fernando; Sánchez, Alberto

doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-90798-9.00003-2

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The reliance of Sesarmidae on animal tissues in mangrove ecosystems has been reported previously (Thongtham et al, 2008;Kristensen et al, 2017). The d 13 C signatures of mangrove leaves from different mangrove tidal zones (MZ, LTZ, -29.1‰; MTZ, -30.4‰; and HTZ, -26.4‰; Figure 4A) are within the range of -35‰ to -22‰ reported for mangrove leaves worldwide (Bouillon et al, 2008;Medina-Contreras et al, 2024). In this research, the d 13 C values of SOM were elevated by 1.2‰ to 5.9‰ in comparison to mangrove leaves.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Tidal zone effects on the diet composition of leaf-eating crabs in natural mangrove communities: a stable isotope analysis

Lu,

Gu,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Front. Mar. Sci.

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BackgroundIn natural mangrove communities, mangrove species are often distributed zonally. Leaf-eating crabs are one of the most abundant and iconic arboreal brachyurans in mangrove forests, but variation in the composition of crab diets in different mangrove tidal zones is unknown.MethodsTo determine the contributions of mangrove leaves and other organic carbon (C) sources to leaf-eating crab diets, dual stable C and nitrogen (N) isotope signatures (δ13C and 1δ5N) were used in a Bayesian stable isotope mixing model. We conducted experiments at various tidal levels in the Dongzhaigang Bay National Natural Reserve in China. We analyzed δ13C and δ15N of leaf-eating crabs, mangrove leaves, sediment organic matter (SOM), and animal tissues (prey).ResultsThe food composition of the dominant crab species, Parasesarma continentale, exhibited significant differences among the four tidal zones. From the margin to the high tide zone, the main food source shifted from predominantly mangrove leaves and SOM to primarily SOM and animal tissues. We observed a significant negative relationship between the C/N ratios of mangrove leaves and the proportion of leaves consumed by leaf-eating crabs. Additionally, as the tidal level increased, the C/N ratio of mangrove leaves also increased, whereas the proportion of leaves consumed by crabs decreased.ConclusionLeaf-eating crab diets vary significantly across tidal zones, highlighting the importance of considering tidal zone differentiation when studying consumer diets in mangrove ecosystems.

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