Location is everything: evaluating the effects of terrestrial and marine resource subsidies on an estuarine bivalve.
Estuaries are amongst the world's most productive ecosystems, lying at the intersection between terrestrial and marine environments. They receive substantial inputs from adjacent landscapes but the importance of resource subsidies is not well understood. Here, we test hypotheses for the effects...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6f877239951e4bef955371dd5d81b090 2023-05-15T17:59:37+02:00 Location is everything: evaluating the effects of terrestrial and marine resource subsidies on an estuarine bivalve. Joel M S Harding Michelle R Segal John D Reynolds 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125167 https://doaj.org/article/6f877239951e4bef955371dd5d81b090 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4436346?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0125167 https://doaj.org/article/6f877239951e4bef955371dd5d81b090 PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 5, p e0125167 (2015) Medicine R Science Q article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125167 2022-12-31T03:54:52Z Estuaries are amongst the world's most productive ecosystems, lying at the intersection between terrestrial and marine environments. They receive substantial inputs from adjacent landscapes but the importance of resource subsidies is not well understood. Here, we test hypotheses for the effects of both terrestrial- and salmon-derived resource subsidies on the diet (inferred from stable isotopes of muscle tissue), size and percent nitrogen of the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria), a sedentary estuarine consumer. We examine how these relationships shift across natural gradients among 14 estuaries that vary in upstream watershed size and salmon density on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. We also test how assimilation and response to subsidies vary at smaller spatial scales within estuaries. The depletion and enrichment of stable isotope ratios in soft-shell clam muscle tissue correlated with increasing upstream watershed size and salmon density, respectively. The effects of terrestrial- and salmon-derived subsidies were also strongest at locations near stream outlets. When we controlled for age of individual clams, there were larger individuals with higher percent nitrogen content in estuaries below larger watersheds, though this effect was limited to the depositional zones below river mouths. Pink salmon exhibited a stronger effect on isotope ratios of clams than chum salmon, which could reflect increased habitat overlap as spawning pink salmon concentrate in lower stream reaches, closer to intertidal clam beds. However, there were smaller clams in estuaries that had higher upstream pink salmon densities, possibly due to differences in habitat requirements. Our study highlights the importance of upstream resource subsidies to this bivalve species, but that individual responses to subsidies can vary at smaller scales within estuaries. Article in Journal/Newspaper Pink salmon Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) PLOS ONE 10 5 e0125167 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Joel M S Harding Michelle R Segal John D Reynolds Location is everything: evaluating the effects of terrestrial and marine resource subsidies on an estuarine bivalve. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Estuaries are amongst the world's most productive ecosystems, lying at the intersection between terrestrial and marine environments. They receive substantial inputs from adjacent landscapes but the importance of resource subsidies is not well understood. Here, we test hypotheses for the effects of both terrestrial- and salmon-derived resource subsidies on the diet (inferred from stable isotopes of muscle tissue), size and percent nitrogen of the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria), a sedentary estuarine consumer. We examine how these relationships shift across natural gradients among 14 estuaries that vary in upstream watershed size and salmon density on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. We also test how assimilation and response to subsidies vary at smaller spatial scales within estuaries. The depletion and enrichment of stable isotope ratios in soft-shell clam muscle tissue correlated with increasing upstream watershed size and salmon density, respectively. The effects of terrestrial- and salmon-derived subsidies were also strongest at locations near stream outlets. When we controlled for age of individual clams, there were larger individuals with higher percent nitrogen content in estuaries below larger watersheds, though this effect was limited to the depositional zones below river mouths. Pink salmon exhibited a stronger effect on isotope ratios of clams than chum salmon, which could reflect increased habitat overlap as spawning pink salmon concentrate in lower stream reaches, closer to intertidal clam beds. However, there were smaller clams in estuaries that had higher upstream pink salmon densities, possibly due to differences in habitat requirements. Our study highlights the importance of upstream resource subsidies to this bivalve species, but that individual responses to subsidies can vary at smaller scales within estuaries. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Joel M S Harding Michelle R Segal John D Reynolds |
author_facet |
Joel M S Harding Michelle R Segal John D Reynolds |
author_sort |
Joel M S Harding |
title |
Location is everything: evaluating the effects of terrestrial and marine resource subsidies on an estuarine bivalve. |
title_short |
Location is everything: evaluating the effects of terrestrial and marine resource subsidies on an estuarine bivalve. |
title_full |
Location is everything: evaluating the effects of terrestrial and marine resource subsidies on an estuarine bivalve. |
title_fullStr |
Location is everything: evaluating the effects of terrestrial and marine resource subsidies on an estuarine bivalve. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Location is everything: evaluating the effects of terrestrial and marine resource subsidies on an estuarine bivalve. |
title_sort |
location is everything: evaluating the effects of terrestrial and marine resource subsidies on an estuarine bivalve. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125167 https://doaj.org/article/6f877239951e4bef955371dd5d81b090 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
geographic |
Canada British Columbia |
geographic_facet |
Canada British Columbia |
genre |
Pink salmon |
genre_facet |
Pink salmon |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 5, p e0125167 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4436346?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0125167 https://doaj.org/article/6f877239951e4bef955371dd5d81b090 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125167 |
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PLOS ONE |
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10 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
e0125167 |
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