Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Compensatory partitioning of carbon budgets by the grass shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio) and implications for predator prey relationships

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Central European Journal of Biology

Abstract

Carbon utilization and allocation were examined between two populations of shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio) to determine the possible effects of living in an area of high anthropogenic impact. Carbon assimilation has been studied in P. pugio, but no study has looked at how assimilation might be influenced by contaminants. Anthropogenic effects on carbon assimilation in grass shrimp represent a major unmeasured impact on the carbon budget of multi-cellular organisms in estuaries and near shore environments. The influence of anthropogenic contamination on carbon assimilation has implications for predicting the environmental impact of contaminants, for models of estuarine function, and trophic transfer from the dominant macroscopic detritus processor to species of direct economic importance. Shrimp budgets were compared between two populations, one from a highly polluted marsh creek system in Northern New Jersey, and one from a clean reference site in Southern New Jersey. All components of the carbon budgets were measured directly including carbon allocated to reproduction. Carbon lost to respiration was lower in shrimp from the polluted system allowing them to have increased reproductive output. This is examined in the context of previous studies that show lowered predation by a piscine predator at the polluted site, resulting in a trophic cascade and changes in ecosystem function due to anthropogenic impacts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Adams S.M., Angelovic J.W., Assimilation of detritus and its associated bacteria by three species of estuarine animals, Chesap. Sci., 1970, 11, 249–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Anderson J.W., Neff J.M., Cox B.A., Tatem H.E., Hightower G.M., Characteristics of dispersions and water-soluble extracts of crude and refined oils and their toxicity to estuarine crustaceans and fish, Mar. Bio., 1974, 27, 75–88

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Wang S.Y., Stickle W.B., Bioenergetics, growth and molting of Callinectes sapidus exposed to the water-soluble fraction of South Louisiana crude oil, In: Vernberg W.B., Calabrese A., Thurberg F.P., Vernberg F.J. (Eds.), Pollution physiology of estuarine organisms, Contr. Belle W. Baruch Libr. Mar. Sci. 17, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 1987

    Google Scholar 

  4. Stickle W.B., Kapper M.A., Shirley T.C., Carls M.G., Rice S.D., Bioenergetics and tolerance of the pink shrimp (Pandalus borealis) during long-term exposure to the water-soluble fraction and oiled sediment from Cook Inlet crude oil, In: Vernberg W.B., Calabrese A., Thurberg F.P., Vernberg F.J. (Eds.), Pollution physiology of estuarine organisms, Contr. Belle W. Baruch Libr. Mar. Sci. No. 17, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 1987

    Google Scholar 

  5. McKenney C.L. Jr., Matthews E., Alterations in the energy metabolism of an estuarine mysid (Mysidopsis bahaia) as indicators of stress from chronic pesticide exposure, Mar. Environ. Res., 1990, 30, 1–19

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Dillon T.M., Effects of a dimethylnaphthalene-contaminated food source and daily fluctuating temperatures on the survival potential of the estuarine shrimp Palaemonetes pugio (York River, Virginia), Mar. Bio., 1981, 63, 227–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Dillon T.M., Oxygen consumption in the shrimp Palaemonetes pugio exposed to fluctuating temperatures and food contaminated with the diaromatic petroleum hydrocarbon dimethylnaphthalene (York River, Virginia), Est., Coast. and Shelf Sci., 1983, 16, 403–413

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Hutcheson M., Miller D.C., White A.Q., Respiratory and behavioral responses of the grass shrimp Palaemonetes pugio to cadmium and reduced dissolved oxygen, Mar. Bio., 1985, 88, 59–66

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. St. Amand L., Gagnon R., Packard T.T., Savenkoff C., Effects of inorganic mercury on the respiration and the swimming activity of shrimp larvae, Pandalus borealis, Comp. Biochem. Phys. Pharm., Tox. Endoxrinol., 1999, 122, 33–43

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Able K.W., Lathrop R., DeLuca M.P., Background for research and monitoring in the Mullica River/Great Bay estuary, Contribution #96-07, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, New Brunswick, N.J.,1996

    Google Scholar 

  11. Koepp S.J., McCormick J.M., Cheng S.L., Distribution, flux, and biological effects of heavy metal pollutants in the Newark Bay estuary, Presented at Water Conference, Ramapo College, Mahwah, N.J., 1980

    Google Scholar 

  12. Callahan P., Weis J.S., Methylmercury effects on regeneration and ecdysis in fiddler crabs (Uca pugilator, U. pugnax) after short-term and chronic pre-exposure, Arch. Environ. Contam. Tox., 1983, 12, 707–714

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Weis J.S., Windham L., Santiago-Bass C., Weis P., Growth, survival, and metal content of marsh invertebrates fed diets of detritus from Spartina alterniflora Loisel and Phragmites australis Cav. Trin. ex Steud. from metal-contaminated and clean sites, Wetlands Ecol. and Manage, 2002, 10, 71–84

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Khan A.T., Weis J.S., D’Andrea L., Bioaccumulation of four heavy metals in two populations of grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, Bull. Environ. Contam. Tox., 1989, 42, 339–343

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Eckenfelder W., GAF Remedial investigation report, Eckenfelder Incorporated, Mahwah, New Jersey, 1991

    Google Scholar 

  16. Vernberg F.J., Piyatiratitivorakul S., Effects of salinity and temperature on the bioenergetics of adult stages of the grass shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio Holthius) from the North Inlet estuary, South Carolina, Estuaries, 1998, 21, 176–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Verardo D.J., Froelich P.N., McIntyre A., Determination of organic carbon and nitrogen in marine sediments using the Carlo Erba NA-1500 Analyzer, Deep-Sea Res. Part A, 1990, 37, 157–165

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Brody S., Bioenergetics and growth, Reinhold Pub. Corp., New York, N.Y., 1945

    Google Scholar 

  19. Cochran R.E., Burnett L.E., Respiratory responses of the salt marsh animals, Fundulus heteroclitus, Leiostomus xanthurus, and Palaemonetes pugio to environmental hypoxia and hypercapnia and to the organophosphate pesticide, azinphosmethyl, J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 1996, 195, 125–144

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. McFarland W.N., Pickens P.E., The effects of season, temperature, and salinity on standard and active oxygen consumption of the grass shrimp, Palaemonetes vulgaris (Say), Can. J. Zoo, 1965, 43, 571–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Packard G.C., Boardman T.J., The misuse of ratios to scale physiological data that vary allometrically with body size, In: Feder M.E., Bennett A.F., Burggren W., Huey R.B., (Eds.), New Directions in Ecological Physiology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987

    Google Scholar 

  22. Forbes V.E., Depledge M.H., Environmental stress and the distribution of traits within populations, In: Baird D.J., Maltby L., Grieg-Smith P.W., Douben P.E.T., (Eds.), Ecotoxicology Ecological Dimensions, Chapman and Hall, London, 1996

    Google Scholar 

  23. Petrović S., Semenčić L., Ozretić B., Ozretić M., Seasonal variations of physiological and cellular biomarkers and their use in the biomonitoring of North Adriatic coastal waters (Croatia), Mar. Pollut. Bull., 2004, 49, 713–720

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Weis J.S., Weis P., Tolerance and stress in a polluted environment: The case of the mummichog, Bioscience, 1989, 39, 89–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Harper F A., Smith S.E., Macnair M.R., Where is the cost in copper tolerance in Mimulus guttatus? Testing the trade-off hypothesis, Funct. Ecol., 1997, 11, 764–774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Maltby L., Studying stress: the importance of organism level responses, Ecol. Appl., 1999, 9, 431–440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Santiago-Bass C., Bhan S., Smith G.M, Weis J.S., Some factors affecting size distribution and density of grass shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio) populations in two New Jersey estuaries, Hydrobiologia, 2001, 450, 231–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Kraus M.L., Kraus D.B., Differences in the effects of mercury on predator avoidance in two populations of the grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, Mar. Environ. Res., 1986, 18, 277–289

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Khan A.T., Weis J.S., Effects of methylmercury on sperm and egg viability in two populations of mummichogs Fundulus heteroclitus, Arch. Environ. Contam. Tox., 1987, 16, 499–505

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Weis J.S., Khan A.A., Effects of mercury on the feeding behavior of the mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, from a polluted habitat, Mar. Environ. Res., 1990, 30, 243–249

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Zhou T., Weis J.S., Predator avoidance in mummichog larvae from a polluted habitat, J. Fish Bio., 1999, 54, 44–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Weis J.S., Smith G., Zhou T., Santiago-Bass C., Weis P., Effects of contaminants on behavior: biochemical mechanisms and ecological consequences, BioScience, 2001, 51, 209–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Weis J.S., Samson J., Zhou T., Skurnick J., Weis P., Prey capture ability of mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) as a behavioral biomarker for contaminants in estuarine systems, Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 2001, 58, 1442–1452

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Weis J.S., Tolerance to environmental contaminants in the mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, Human Ecol. Risk Assessment, 2002, 8, 933–953

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Sciences, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, New Jersey, 07666, USA

    Josh Stout

  2. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901, USA

    Gary Taghon

Authors
  1. Josh Stout
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gary Taghon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Josh Stout.

About this article

Cite this article

Stout, J., Taghon, G. Compensatory partitioning of carbon budgets by the grass shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio) and implications for predator prey relationships. cent.eur.j.biol. 9, 19–27 (2014). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11535-013-0177-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11535-013-0177-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation