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Food Web Structure in a Chesapeake Bay Eelgrass Bed as Determined through Gut Contents and 13C and 15N Isotope Analysis

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Abstract

Changes in seagrass food-web structure can shift the competitive balance between seagrass and algae, and may alter the flow of energy from lower trophic levels to commercially important fish and crustaceans. Yet, trophic relationships in many seagrass systems remain poorly resolved. We estimated the food web linkages among small predators, invertebrate mesograzers, and primary producers in a Chesapeake Bay eelgrass (Zostera marina) bed by analyzing gut contents and stable C and N isotope ratios. Though trophic levels were relatively distinct, predators varied in the proportion of mesograzers consumed relative to alternative prey, and some mesograzers consumed macrophytes or exhibited intra-guild predation in addition to feeding on periphyton and detritus. These findings corroborate conclusions from lab and mesocosm studies that the ecological impacts of mesograzers vary widely among species, and they emphasize the need for taxonomic resolution and ecological information within seagrass epifaunal communities.

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Acknowledgments

We thank J. Paul Richardson, Rachael E. Blake, Romuald Lipcius, Paul Gerdes, and others for help and advice with field and lab work, and we thank David Harris and the staff of the UC Davis Stable Isotope Facility for invaluable sample processing services. This work was supported by grant #XXXXXX to J.E. Duffy. This is VIMS contribution #XXXX.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northeastern University Marine Science Center, 430 Nahant Road, Nahant, 01908, MA, USA

    James G. Douglass

  2. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, 1208 Greate Road, Gloucester Point, VA, 23062, USA

    J. Emmett Duffy & Elizabeth A. Canuel

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  1. James G. Douglass
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  2. J. Emmett Duffy
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  3. Elizabeth A. Canuel
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Correspondence to James G. Douglass.

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Douglass, J.G., Emmett Duffy, J. & Canuel, E.A. Food Web Structure in a Chesapeake Bay Eelgrass Bed as Determined through Gut Contents and 13C and 15N Isotope Analysis. Estuaries and Coasts 34, 701–711 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-010-9356-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-010-9356-4

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