A specialist detritivore links Spartina alterniflora to salt marsh food webs

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 364:87-95 (2008) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07504 A specialist detritivore links Spartina alterniflora to salt marsh food webs John D. Parker1,2,*, Joseph P. Montoya1, Mark E. Hay1 1School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA 2Present address: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 647 Contees Wharf Road, Edgewater, Maryland 21037, USA *Email: parkerj@si.edu ABSTRACT: Because most plant production is subject to senescence and is eventually consumed by detritivores, the factors that drive detritivore diet choice are pivotal to the flow of energy and materials through food webs. Here, we investigated the common salt marsh amphipod Gammarus palustris, which is a habitat specialist that feeds specifically on the dead leaves of its living host plant, salt marsh cordgrass Spartina alterniflora. Restricted use and consumption of dead S. alterniflora was reinforced by superior amphipod performance (survival, size, and sexual development) on dead S. alterniflora relative to other diets, and was driven at least in part by amphipods being physically able to feed on soft, decaying plant tissues but not live, turgid tissues. Stable isotopes from field surveys and laboratory assimilation assays suggest that amphipods also feed on S. alterniflora in the field, and that the important marsh fish Fundulus hetroclitus feeds on amphipods. Thus, consumption of G. palustris by F. heteroclitus may be an important trophic pathway linking cordgrass production to nearshore food webs. Importantly, direct isotopic analyses of amphipods and their known food sources demonstrated substantial deviation of observed fractionation factors from idealized standards. This suggests caution when using idealized trophic shifts to describe food web linkages, and a renewed focus on assimilation assays to determine the realized fractionation of dietary isotopes. KEY WORDS: Spartina alterniflora · Detritus · Stable isotopes · Food webs Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Parker JD, Montoya JP, Hay ME (2008) A specialist detritivore links Spartina alterniflora to salt marsh food webs. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 364:87-95. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07504 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 364. Online publication date: July 29, 2008 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2008 Inter-Research.