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Major food web properties of two sandy beaches with contrasting morphodynamics, and effects on the stability

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Abstract

We determined major structural properties influencing the food webs of two sandy beaches with contrasting morphodynamics in the Atlantic coast of Uruguay: reflective (narrow and steep) and dissipative beaches (wide and flat). Furthermore, we evaluated how these characteristics could influence the stability of the local food webs. To this end, we examined the correlation of several food web properties with different ecosystem types (including freshwater habitats, estuary, marine, and terrestrial environments) using a principal components analysis. Sandy beach food web components included detritus, phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, fishes, and seabirds. Our results revealed that the dissipative beach presented higher trophic levels, a higher number of trophic species, more links per species, as well as a higher proportion of intermediate trophic species, but lower connectance and proportion of omnivorous species than the reflective beach. The variation in the food web properties was explained by two principal components. Sandy beach food webs contribute mainly to one dimension of the principal components analysis that was determined by the number of trophic species, links per species, the trophic similarity, and the characteristic path length. We suggest that species and link characteristics, such as predominance of scavengers and detritivorous, the relatively high connectance and the short path length are drivers in the food web structure and may play a role in the community dynamic.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Omar Defeo (Facultad de Ciencias, UNDECIMAR, Uruguay) for his mentorship and friendship through the years. This work was supported by SANDISA IMWEBU grants (L.B). We thank Katherina Schoo and Sydney Moyo for the language editing. We are also grateful to Piet Spaak and an anonymous referee for helpful comments in the manuscript. DL thanks PEDECIBA and ANII. L.B. thanks Jesús Orozco (Rhodes University, South Africa) for his transmission of knowledge and encouragement in a friendly way.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa

    Leandro Bergamino

  2. UNDECIMAR, Facultad de Ciencias, Iguá 4225, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Leandro Bergamino, Julio Gómez, Francisco R. Barboza & Diego Lercari

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  1. Leandro Bergamino
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  2. Julio Gómez
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  3. Francisco R. Barboza
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  4. Diego Lercari
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Correspondence to Leandro Bergamino.

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Handling Editor: Piet Spaak.

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Bergamino, L., Gómez, J., Barboza, F.R. et al. Major food web properties of two sandy beaches with contrasting morphodynamics, and effects on the stability. Aquat Ecol 47, 253–261 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-013-9440-5

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