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Resource Use of an Aquacultured Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) in the Reverse Estuary Bahía San Quintín, Baja California, México

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Abstract

Shellfish aquaculture is prominent in many coastal and estuarine environments and has both ecological and economic impacts. Bahía San Quintín is a reverse estuary in Baja California, Mexico, where Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) are cultivated. While oysters likely feed heavily on phytoplankton especially during upwelling periods, we hypothesized that other forms of organic matter such as seagrass (Zostera marina) and macroalgae (Ulva spp.) must also be used by the oysters, especially in the most inshore portions of the bay. We measured the carbon and hydrogen stable isotope composition of oysters and their potential food resources at upper, mid, and lower bay sites during upwelling and non-upwelling seasons and applied a Bayesian mixing model to evaluate resource use. Hydrogen isotopes provided a large separation between potential food resources. Although we did not find any strong seasonal effects due to upwelling, there was a strong spatial gradient in resource use. Phytoplankton were most important at the lower (oceanic) site (median resource use for two sampling times, 68 and 79 %) and decreased up the estuary as macroalgae became more important (43 and 56 % at the upper site). At all sites for both sampling times, seagrass was an unimportant resource for oysters. The contrast between high phytoplankton use at the lower site and increased macroalgal use at the upper site is likely due to available resource biomass. Results indicate the adaptability of oysters to varying resource availability and the possibility of a higher system carrying capacity than that based on phytoplankton alone given multiple potential food sources. This study also highlights the utility of hydrogen isotopes in estuarine food web research.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge UABC for transportation, supplies, and lab space. We thank Oscar Hernández-Sánchez and Maricarmen Ávila-López for field and lab support and Eduardo Ortíz and Arturo Siqueiros for lab support. We are grateful to Nautilus Oyster farm for their support, boat, and driver. This paper was improved by the comments of three anonymous reviewers. Funding was provided by NSF grants DEB 1237733 (KJM, Virginia Coast Reserve LTER) and DEB 1144624 (MLP), the University of Virginia Department of Environmental Sciences Moore Award (KAE), and CONACYT (México) grant no. CB2010-154376 (VCI).

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  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Kyle A. Emery, Grace M. Wilkinson, Michael L. Pace & Karen J. McGlathery

  2. Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Ensenada, Baja California, México

    Victor F. Camacho-Ibar, Jose M. Sandoval-Gil & Julieta Hernández-López

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  1. Kyle A. Emery
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Emery, K.A., Wilkinson, G.M., Camacho-Ibar, V.F. et al. Resource Use of an Aquacultured Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) in the Reverse Estuary Bahía San Quintín, Baja California, México. Estuaries and Coasts 39, 866–874 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-015-0021-9

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