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Detecting Multiple States of Trophic Connectivity Between Mangroves and Salt Marshes

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Abstract

The productivity gradient between adjacent habitats can fluctuate over time due to seasonal cycles and lead to both habitats being alternately subsidized. Although this process is well known for prey subsidies in stream-riparian forest ecotones, few studies are available for other systems or subsidy types. Moreover, the effects of transport intensity on this expected alternate subsidy exchange are still poorly understood. We assessed whether subsidy input and allochthonous carbon assimilation by resident benthic invertebrates alternated between adjacent mangroves and salt marshes during peaks of detritus productivity (summer and winter, respectively) in a subtropical estuary, by using detritus trapping techniques and stable isotope ratios. Sampling was performed simultaneously in the sheltered (inner sector) and exposed (outer sector) regions of the estuary to assess the influence of different physical conditions on the intensity of subsidy flow. Transport of mangrove litter into the salt marsh occurred mainly in the summer in both sectors; however, most of the litter remained trapped in the marsh boundary. The mixing model also showed that there was little influence of allochthonous carbon in the diet of salt marsh benthic invertebrates. Marsh litter supply to mangroves did not vary significantly between seasons but was significantly higher in the outer than in the inner sector. Likewise, the mixing model showed great contribution of salt marsh carbon to the diet of benthic invertebrates from the outer-sector mangroves, whereas autochthonous carbon predominated in those from the inner mangroves. Our findings reinforce the model that trophic connectivity relies on the relative proportion of allochthonous (subsidy) and autochthonous resources rather than only on asymmetric productivity between habitats. Differences in the proportion of resources result from interaction among productivity, permeability, and transport vectors that lead to many states of trophic connectivity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Maurício Noernberg (Lab. Física Marinha—CEM/UFPR) for the help with the S4 current meter, Plinio Camargo (Lab. Ecologia Isotópica—CENA/USP) for stable isotope analysis and Helen A. Pichler for provide the isotopic data of microphytobenthos. We are grateful to Márcia N. Kurtz and a number of graduate and undergraduate students from Centro de Estudos do Mar/UFPR for their help in the field and laboratory. Clube Náutico de Antonina provided facilities for field work. National Institute of Meteorology provided wind data. We also thank Alexandre Garcia, Rosana Rocha, Laurie Marczak, Leonardo Sandrini-Neto, and the anonymous referees for their critical review and constructive comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. AMD was supported by CAPES (Brazilian Ministry of Education) and PL by CNPq (Brazilian National Research Council).

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  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil

    André Menegotto Domingos

  2. Laboratório de Bentos, Centro de Estudos do Mar, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Pontal do Paraná, Paraná, Brazil

    Paulo da Cunha Lana

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  1. André Menegotto Domingos
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  2. Paulo da Cunha Lana
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Correspondence to André Menegotto Domingos.

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AMD and PCL conceived and designed the study. AMD performed the research and analyzed the data. AMD and PCL wrote the paper.

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Domingos, A.M., Lana, P. Detecting Multiple States of Trophic Connectivity Between Mangroves and Salt Marshes. Ecosystems 20, 1179–1189 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-016-0101-0

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