Estuarine Food Webs

Variación espacio-temporal de la estructura ecológica de la comunidad de peces en la Laguna del Ostión, Veracruz, México

“…No existen estudios publicados a la fecha sobre la dieta y los hábitos alimentarios de los peces en la Laguna del Ostión, por lo que son escasos los datos sobre la composición de grupos tróficos de la ictiofauna en el sistema. El estudio de la ecología trófica en peces faculta conocer y comprender aspectos sobre la biología, la estructura ecológica y el papel funcional de las especies o conjuntos de especies en estos sistemas costeros (Hagy & Kemp, 2013;Abrantes et al 2015). En esta indagación, se observó que las especies carnívoras C. spilopterus, O. beta, C. parallelus y L. griseus se distribuyeron en áreas de pastos y raíces de manglar, donde son abundantes los crustáceos, mientras que la mayor abundancia de omnívoros y detritívoros, como D. rhombeus, S. hispidus, M. curema y O. niloticus, se registró en la parte central y sur de la laguna.…”

Identifying patterns in the multitrophic community and food-web structure of a low-turbidity temperate estuarine bay

“…Fluctuations in the processes create distinct community patterns along the salinity gradient and thus the scale and magnitude of community patterns are subject to seasonal changes in freshwater discharge 4 – 6 . This wide spectrum of variability with space and time constructs the structural and dynamic properties of estuarine food webs 7 , 8 . Consequently, the understanding of food web dynamics in estuaries is fundamental for predicting the responses of communities (and populations) under both natural and anthropogenic forcing.…”

“…Indeed, diverse network models have been applied to quantitatively analyse matter flows through trophic pathways within and among estuarine ecosystems, providing useful tools for assessing response patterns to environmental stresses 11 – 13 . To construct better food web models, it may be necessary to have empirical information on the underlying architecture (the map of predator–prey interactions) and interaction strength 8 , 14 . An estimation of the abundance and biomass of organisms often serves as a key component in computing the production of trophic groups 8 and identifying patterns of co-occurrence of different trophic groups of organisms that create different types of interactions (i.e., competition, mutualism, and consumption) in a real community 15 .…”

“…To construct better food web models, it may be necessary to have empirical information on the underlying architecture (the map of predator–prey interactions) and interaction strength 8 , 14 . An estimation of the abundance and biomass of organisms often serves as a key component in computing the production of trophic groups 8 and identifying patterns of co-occurrence of different trophic groups of organisms that create different types of interactions (i.e., competition, mutualism, and consumption) in a real community 15 . In addition, quantitative data on the diets of species are essential in terms of deciding trophic nodes in the food web and for partitioning the total consumption of each node into the relative contributions by other nodes, characterizing the sets of feeding links within a food web 16 , 17 .…”