Journal article
Utilization of Spartina- and Phragmites-derived dissolved organic matter by bacteria and ribbed mussels (Geukensia demissa) from Delaware Bay salt marshes
Estuaries and coasts, v 31(4), pp 694-703
01 Sep 2008
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Phragmites australis has been invading Spartina-alterniflora-dominated salt marshes throughout the mid-Atlantic. Although, Phragmites has high rates of primary production, it is not known whether this species supports lower trophic levels of a marsh food web in the same manner as Spartina. Using several related photochemical and biological assays, we compared patterns of organic matter flow of plant primary production through a key salt marsh metazoan, the ribbed mussel (Geukensia demissa), using a bacterial intermediate. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) was derived from plants collected from a Delaware Bay salt marsh and grown in the laboratory with C-14-CO2. Bacterial utilization of plant-derived DOM measured as carbon mineralization revealed that both species provided bioavailable DOM to native salt marsh bacteria. Total carbon mineralization after 19 days was higher for Spartina treatments (36% (CO2)-C-14 +/- 3 SE) compared with Phragmites treatments (29% +/- 2 SE; Wilcoxon-Kruskal-Wallis rank sums test, P < 0.01). Pre-exposing DOM to natural sunlight only enhanced or decreased bioavailability of the DOM to the bacterioplankton during initial measurements (e.g., 7 days or less) but these differences were not significant over the course of the incubations. Mixtures of C-14-labeled bacterioplankton (and possibly organic flocs) from C-14-DOM treatments were cleared by G. demissa at similar rates between Spartina and Phragmites treatments. Moreover, C-14 assimilation efficiencies for material ingested by mussels were high for both plant sources ranging from 74% to 90% and not significantly different between plant sources. Sunlight exposure did not affect the nutritional value of the bacterioplankton DOM assemblage for mussels. There are many possible trophic and habitat differences between Spartina- and Phragmites-dominated marshes that could affect G. demissa but the fate of vascular plant dissolved organic carbon in the DOM to bacterioplankton to mussel trophic pathway appears comparable between these marsh types.
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Details
- Title
- Utilization of Spartina- and Phragmites-derived dissolved organic matter by bacteria and ribbed mussels (Geukensia demissa) from Delaware Bay salt marshes
- Creators
- Karen L. Bushaw-Newton - American UniversityDanielle A. Kreeger - Lower Columbia Estuary PartnershipSarah Doaty - American UniversityDavid J. Velinsky - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Estuaries and coasts, v 31(4), pp 694-703
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 10
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000258153200007
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-48749132796
- Other Identifier
- 991019173831004721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Environmental Sciences
- Marine & Freshwater Biology