Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T05:06:29.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Macroalgae and seagrass contribution to gastropods in sub-tropical and temperate tidal flats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2008

Hideyuki Doi ,
Masatoshi Matsumasa ,
Mamoru Fujikawa ,
Keiichi Kanou ,
Takao Suzuki  and
Eisuke Kikuchi
Hideyuki Doi*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1, Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Masatoshi Matsumasa
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Centre for Liberal Arts & Sciences, Iwate Medical University, Nishi-Tokuta 2-1-1, Yahaba-cho 028-3694, Japan
Mamoru Fujikawa
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1, Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Keiichi Kanou
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1, Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Takao Suzuki
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1, Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Eisuke Kikuchi
Affiliation:
Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, Kawauchi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8576, Japan
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Hideyuki Doi, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1, Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Macroalgal and seagrass communities are widely distributed in marine and brackish shallow water and have high productivity. The primary production in marine costal areas is often transported to intertidal flats by waves and currents and beached on the flats. Thus, we hypothesized that the macroalgae and seagrasses are food sources for benthic communities on intertidal flats where some gastropod species often dominate. We performed comparisons of food sources among different gastropod species on sub-tropical and temperate tidal flats (26° and 38°N, respectively), and used isotope mixing models using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. A mixing model for stable isotopes, IsoSource, revealed that main food sources for three snails were macroalgae (50–56%) and seagrass (39–45%) at the temperate site. The contributions of terrestrial plants, sediment organic matter and benthic microalgae were weaker than those of macroalgae and seagrasses. At the sub-tropical site, snails fed mainly on macroalgae. The differences in food sources between snail species were not remarkable, although the nitrogen values were slightly different. It would thus appear that macroalgae and seagrass play an important role in the food webs not only in their own habitats but also on the adjacent tidal flats.

Keywords

macroalgaeseagrassgastropodssub-tropical tidal flatstemperate tidal flats
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 2 , March 2009 , pp. 399 - 404
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aikins, S. and Kikuchi, E. (2002) Grazing pressure by amphipods on microalgae in Gamo Lagoon, Japan. Marine Ecology Progress Series 245, 171–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bustamante, R., Branch, G. and Eekhout, S. (1995) Maintenance of an exceptional grazer biomass in South Africa: subsidy by subtidal kelps. Ecology 76, 2314–2329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Couch, C.A. (1989) Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of meiobenthos and their food resources. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 28, 433–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costanza, R., d'Arge, R., Groot, R., Farber, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., Limburg, K., Naeem, S., O'Nell, R., Paruelo, J., Raskin, R., Sutton, P. and Belt, M. (1997) The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387, 253–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currin, C.A., Newell, S.Y., and Paerl, H.W. (1995) The role of standing dead Spartina alterniflora and benthic microalgae in salt marsh food webs: considerations based on multiple stable isotope analysis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 121, 99–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doi, H., Kikuchi, E., Hino, S., Itoh, T., Takagi, S. and Shikano, S. (2003a) Isotopic (δ13C) evidence for autochthonous origin of sediment organic matter in small, acidic Lake Katanuma, Japan. Marine and Freshwater Research 54, 253–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doi, H., Kikuchi, E., Hino, S., Itoh, T., Takagi, S. and Shikano, S. (2003b) Seasonal dynamics of carbon stable isotope ratios of particulate organic matter and benthic diatoms in strongly acidic Lake Katanuma. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 33, 87–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doi, H., Matsumasa, M., Toya, T., Satoh, N., Mizota, C., Maki, Y., Kikuchi, E. (2005) Spatial shifts in food sources for macrozoobenthos in an estuarine ecosystem: carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 64, 316–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doi, H., Kikuchi, E., Takagi, S. and Shikano, S. (2006) Selective assimilation of the deposit feeders: experimental evidence using stable isotope ratios. Basic and Applied Ecology 7, 159–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duarte, C.M. (1989) Temporal biomass variability and production biomass relationship of seagrass communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series 51, 269–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenchel, T. (1977) Aspects of decomposition of seagrasses. In McRoy, C.P. and Helfferich, C. (eds) Seagrass ecosystems: scientific perspective. New York: Marcel Dekker, pp. 195–234.Google Scholar
France, R.L. and Peters, R.H. (1997) Ecosystem differences in the trophic enrichment of 13C in aquatic food webs. Canadian Journal of Fishery and Aquatic Sciences 54, 1255–1258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guest, M.A., Connolly, R.M. and Loneragan, N.R. (2004) Carbon movement and assimilation by invertebrates in estuarine habitats at a scale of metres. Marine Ecology Progress Series 278, 27–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyndes, G.A. and Lavery, P.S. (2005) Does transported seagrass provide an important trophic link in unvegetated, nearshore areas? Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 63, 633–643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanaya, G., Nobata, E., Toya, T. and Kikuchi, E. (2005) Effects of different feeding habits of three bivalve species on sediment characteristics and benthic diatom abundance. Marine Ecology Progress Series 299, 67–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kharlamenko, V.I., Kiyashko, S.I., Imbs, A.B. and Vyshkvartzev, D.I. (2001) Identification of food sources of invertebrates from the seagrass Zostera marina community using carbon and sulfur stable isotope ratio and fatty acid analyses. Marine Ecology Progress Series 220, 103–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimura, S. and Kimura, T. (1999) The gastropod fauna of the marshes of the reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.))in the estuaries in Mikawa Bay and Ise Bay, Japan. Japanese Journal of Benthology 54, 44–56. [In Japanese with English abstract.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimura, T. (2005) Marine and brackish water invertebrates in the red data book of Japan. Japanese Journal of Benthology 60, 2–10. [In Japanese.]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurata, K., Minami, H. and Kikuchi, E. (2001) Stable isotope analysis of food sources for salt marsh snails. Marine Ecology Progress Series 223, 167–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maki, E., Ohtaki, H. and Tomiyama, K. (2002) Distribution and substrate preference among four Batillarid and Patamidid species, with observations on seasonal changes in the distribution of Cerithideopsilla djadjariensis (K. Martin, 1889) (Gastropoda: Potamididae). Venus 61, 61–76. [In Japanese with English summary.]Google Scholar
Mann, K.H. (1972) Macrophyte production and detritus food chain in coastal waters. Memorie dell'Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia 29, 353–383.Google Scholar
Mann, K.H. (2000) Ecology of coastal waters: with implications for management, Second edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell Scientific Inc.Google Scholar
McCutchan, J.H., Lewis, W.M., Kendall, C. and McGrath, C.C. (2003) Variation in trophic shift for stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Oikos 102, 378–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McRoy, C.P. and McMillan, C. (1977) Production ecology and physiology of seagrasses. In McRoy, C.P. and Helfferich, C. (eds) Seagrass ecosystems: scientific perspective. New York: Marcel Dekker, pp. 53–87.Google Scholar
Melville, A.J. and Connolly, R.M. (2005) Food webs supporting fish over subtropical mudflats are based on transported organic matter not in situ microalgae. Marine Biology 148, 363–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meziane, T. and Tsuchiya, M. (2000) Fatty acids as tracers of organic matter in the sediment and food web of a mangrove intertidal flat ecosystem, Okinawa, Japan. Marine Ecology Progress Series 200, 49–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Motonaga, T. (1977) Ecological distribution of macrobenthos in Oura mangrove swamp. Okinawa Master's Report, University of the Ryukyu.Google Scholar
Nakano, S. and Murakami, M. (2001) Reciprocal subsidies: dynamic interdependence between terrestrial and aquatic food webs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the USA 98, 166–170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Page, H.M. (1997) Importance of vascular plant and algal production to macro-invertebrate consumers in a southern California salt marsh. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 45, 823–834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, D.L., and Gregg, J.W. (2003) Source partitioning using stable isotopes: coping with too many sources. Oecologia 136, 261–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polis, G.A., Anderson, W.B. and Holt, R.D. (1997) Towards an integration of landscape and food web ecology: the dynamics of spatially subsidized food webs. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 28, 289–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riera, P., Stal, L.J. and Nieuwenhuize, J. (2002) δ13C versus δ15N of co-occurring molluscs within a community dominated by Crassostrea gigas and Crepidula fornicata (Oosterschelde, The Netherlands). Marine Ecology Progress Series 240, 291–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schindler, D.E., Leavitt, P.R., Brock, C.S., Johnson, S.P. and Quay, P.D. (2005) Marine-derived nutrients, commercial fisheries, and production of salmon and lake algae in Alaska. Ecology 86, 3225–3231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wainright, S.C., Weinstein, M.P., Able, K.W. and Currin, C.A. (2000) Relative importance of benthic microalgae, phytoplankton and the detritus of smooth cordgrass Spartina alterniflora and the common reed Phragmites australis to brackish-marsh food webs. Marine Ecology Progress Series 200, 77–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitlatch, R.B. and Obrebski, S. (1980) Feeding selectivity and coexistence in two deposit-feeding gastropods. Marine Biology 58, 219–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zieman, J.C. and Wetzel, R.G. (1980) Productivity of seagrasses: methods and rates. In Phillips, R.C. and McRoy, C.P. (eds) Hand-book of seagrass biology: an ecosystem perspective. New York: Garland STPM Press, pp. 86–116.Google Scholar