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Food-Web Structure; Submerged Aquatic Vegetation; Bacterial Carbon-Sources; Trophic Cascades; Chesapeake Bay; Community Structure; Microbial Biomass; Grazer Diversity; Fatty-Acids; Productivity
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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences
Top-Down And Bottom-Up Controls On Sediment Organic Matter Composition In An Experimental Seagrass Ecosystem, Ac Spivak, Elizabeth A. Canuel, Je Duffy, Jp Richardson
Top-Down And Bottom-Up Controls On Sediment Organic Matter Composition In An Experimental Seagrass Ecosystem, Ac Spivak, Elizabeth A. Canuel, Je Duffy, Jp Richardson
VIMS Articles
We tested the singular and interactive effects of resource availability (light) and community composition (food chain length and herbivore species richness) on eelgrass (Zostera marina) ecosystem properties and functioning with an experimental mesocosm system. Food chain length was manipulated through the presence or absence of blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) predators, whereas grazer species richness varied across three levels (zero, two, or four crustacean species). We found important and interacting effects of bottom-up and top-down forcings on sediment organic matter (SOM) composition. Light increased eelgrass and algal biomass and sediment organic carbon and nitrogen content. Increasing grazer diversity generally decreased algal …