Seascape Configuration Influences the Community Structure of Marsh Nekton

Influence of seascape spatial pattern on the trophic niche of an omnivorous fish

“…Because pinfish display ontogenetic shifts, it is possible the difference in trophic level across the seascape types is due to differential use of seagrass seascape configuration depending on the life stage. Size‐specific shifts in habitat use have been shown in other nekton species depending on the degree of fragmentation (James, Topor, & Santos, 2020). However, in this study pinfish were above the size threshold of when mature pinfish shift to a more herbivorous diet (80 mm; Stoner, 1980), and were similar in size across the different seascape types (Appendix S1: Figure S1).…”

An integrative salt marsh conceptual framework for global comparisons

“…If the researchers determine from previous knowledge that coastal setting is less important to constrain than inter-system setting given site access, this may be an appropriate design. In selecting specific locations, controlling for intra-system setting across all sites or varying it systematically as a variable of interest will be critical (James et al 2021).…”

“…In some cases, adjacent supratidal habitats may not locally exist in areas that do not maintain adequate supratidal environments (e.g., salt marsh islands). The arrangement of habitats both within the intertidal zone and in adjacent systems can influence salt marshes and their distribution through connectivity, nutrients, food web dynamics, and population dynamics (Chapman 1940; Adams 1963; Able et al 2012; Boström et al 2018; James et al 2021; Ziegler et al 2021 b , c ). For example, along the land‐sea interface, differences or changes in geomorphology and elevation can form berms, dikes, and levees within the salt marsh, altering water flow dynamics and sedimentation (Pedersen and Bartholdy 2007; Wegscheidl et al 2015).…”

“…Environmental variability between the edge and interior of salt marsh patches can drive the spatial distribution of salt marsh vegetation species depending on patch size and the level of heterogeneity (Morzaria‐Luna et al 2004; Kim et al 2012; Veldkornet et al 2016). There is also evidence that the shape of patches can affect habitat provisioning to consumer species, with patch shape in salt marshes having species‐specific impacts on the body size of commercially important fisheries species (James et al 2021), body condition of juvenile fishes (Ziegler, unpublished data), hydrologic and dissolved oxygen regulation (Runca et al 1996; Ravera 2000), and greater fish density and species richness associated with more circular patches (Green et al 2012).…”

Concepts and Controversies in Tidal Marsh Ecology Revisited

“…These perspective articles are interspersed with contemporary case studies in support of the concepts outlined above. The structural and functional characteristics of tidal marshes are considered in several studies (James et al 2020;Jones et al 2020;Curran et al 2021;Kimball and Eash-Loucks 2021;Smith and Pellew 2021), supported with examples that apply contemporary approaches for exploring these characteristics (Bennett et al 2020;Baker et al 2021;Colombano et al 2021a;zu Ermgassen et al 2021a). System change within tidal marshes is considered in the context of factors that impact their health, resilience and productivity (Crosby et al 2021), and the implications for marsh nekton (Harris et al 2020).…”