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. 2017 Jul;26(4):507-512.
doi: 10.1111/fog.12212.

Benthic food webs support the production of sympatric flatfish larvae in estuarine nursery habitat

Ester Dias  1 , Pedro Morais  1   2 , Ana M Faria  3 , Carlos Antunes  1   4 , Joel C Hoffman  5
Affiliations

Benthic food webs support the production of sympatric flatfish larvae in estuarine nursery habitat

Ester Dias et al. Fish Oceanogr. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Identifying nursery habitats is of paramount importance to define proper management and conservation strategies for flatfish species. Flatfish nursery studies usually report upon habitat occupation, but few attempted to quantify the importance of those habitats to larvae development. The reliance of two sympatric flatfish species larvae, the European flounder Platichthys flesus and the common sole Solea solea, on the estuarine food web (benthic vs. pelagic) was determined through carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis. The organic matter sources supporting the production of P. flesus and S. solea larvae biomass originates chiefly in the benthic food web. However, these species have significantly different δ13C and δ15N values which suggests that they prey on organisms that use a different mixture of sources or assimilate different components from similar OM pools (or both).

Keywords: Platichthys flesus; Solea solea; estuary; resource partitioning; stable isotopes.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Location of the sampling stations in the Minho River estuary (NW-Portugal, Europe).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Nitrogen and carbon stable isotope values (‰) from composite samples of larvae from Platichthys flesus and Solea solea as a function of average larvae size (mm).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Average (± SD) δ13C and δ15N values of Platichthys flesus (Pf) and Solea solea (Ss) larvae adjusted for two trophic levels fractionation (+0.8‰ δ13C; +5.9‰ δ15N). Larvae were collected at the mouth of the Minho estuary (March 2011). Potential organic matter (OM) sources include surface (s) and bottom (b) phytoplankton (Phyto) and particulate OM (POM), microphytobenthos (MPB), macroalgae and sediment OM (SOM).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Proportional contribution of each potential organic matter (OM) source to Platichthys flesus and Solea solea biomass collected in the Minho river estuary in March 2011 based on a dual stable isotope mixing model. The OM sources include phytoplankton (Phyto), particulate organic matter (POM), macroalgae, microphytobenthos (MPB), sediment organic matter (SOM). Closed squares indicate the most likely value (mode) and lines indicate the 95% Bayesian credibility intervals.
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