Seasonal variation in the diet of estuarine bivalves.

ABSTRACT: Estuarine food webs are generally considered to be supported by marine pelagic and benthic primary producers and by the import of dead organic matter from the open sea. Although estuaries receive considerable amounts of freshwater phytoplankton and organic compounds from adjacent rivers, the potential contribution of these living and dead matter to estuarine food webs is often assumed to be negligible and, therefore, not examined. Based on stable isotope analyses, we report the importance of freshwater suspended particulate organic matter (FW-SPOM) for fuelling estuarine food webs in comparison to estuarine SPOM and microphytobenthos. This previously neglected food source contributed 50-60% (annual average) of food intake of suspension-feeding bivalves such as cockles (Cerastoderma edule),

SUBMITTER: Jung AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6579449 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature