Food web analysis of an eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) meadow and neighbouring sites in Mitsukuchi Bay (Seto Inland Sea, Japan) using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios

Anchorage and resistance to uprooting forces of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) shoots planted in slag substrates

“…Their decline all over the world has prompted concerns and efforts for conservation of still existing communities and restoration of the lost ones. In the coastal waters of Japan, eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) is the most commonly found seagrass (Hoshika et al, 2006). Similar to what is observed globally, decrease of eelgrass communities has also been observed in Japan.…”

“…Similar to what is observed globally, decrease of eelgrass communities has also been observed in Japan. For instance, in Seto Inland Sea alone, vast eelgrass beds that existed during the 1950's decreased by 70% in the last three decades (Komatsu, 1996;Hoshika et al, 2006). To alleviate these lost of eelgrass meadows, eelgrass restoration efforts are being done all over the world; among them are transplanting, stockpiling and construction of artificial eelgrass beds (Orth et al, 1999;van Katwijk et al, 2000;Borde et al, 2001;Omoto et al, 2005).…”

Do allochthonous inputs represent an important food resource for benthic macrofaunal communities in tropical estuarine mudflats?

“…As we could not separate the epiphytic algae from the seagrass leaves in the present study due to the technical difficulty of such a procedure, our seagrass litter includes a great deal of epiphytic algae, as stated above. Indeed, previous studies have strongly suggested that epiphytic algae are the main food resource for animals associated with seagrass meadows (Hoshika et al, 2006;Kitting et al, 1984;Moncreiff and Sullivan, 2001;Moncreiff et al, 1992). For example, some gastropod species utilized the epiphytic algae in the mudflats that fringe seagrass meadows (Coelho et al, 2011;Kharlamenko et al, 2001).…”

Impact of farming non-indigenous scallop Argopecten irradians on benthic ecosystem functioning: a case-study in Laizhou Bay, China

“…Trophic enrichment factors (TEF) of 0.3 ± 1.3 ‰ δ 13 C and 2.3 ± 1.8 ‰ δ 15 N were adopted for each trophic step (Zanden & Rasmussen 2001). The isotopic values of the seagrass Z. marina were adopted from Hoshika et al (2006). We calculated isotopic data only for the year 2016 because MPB was not collected in 2015.…”