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Mussel selectivity for high-quality food drives carbon inputs into open-coast intertidal ecosystems

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  • Filter-feeding invertebrates consume phytoplankton and detritus and therefore serve as important mediators of the exchange of materials from nearshore pelagic to intertidal benthic ecosystems. Here, we evaluated the linkages between nearshore and intertidal systems on temperate rocky reefs on the coasts of Oregon, USA, and New Zealand’s South Island. We used differences in the concentrations of both nearshore particulate organic carbon and chlorophyll a (chl a), a proxy for phytoplankton availability, at different sites in Oregon and New Zealand to evaluate the influences of suspended particulate organic material (POM) quality and quantity on the rates of carbon inputs associated with intertidal mussels (Mytilus californianus in Oregon and Mytilus galloprovincialis in New Zealand). We also analyzed the carbon stable isotope ratios (δ¹³C) of intertidal mussels and nearshore POM to examine changes in mussel growth in carbon relative to changes in their potential food sources along gradients of POM quality (i.e. carbon-to-chlorophyll ratios, C:chl a). In both Oregon and New Zealand, the δ¹³C in mussel tissues did not change along a gradient of food quality, whereas the δ¹³C of the POM declined as food quality declined (i.e. C:chl a increased), suggesting that mussels were selectively consuming high-quality food. We also found that the availability of phytoplankton, a high-quality component of the POM, was a better predictor of mussel growth in carbon (mg C g⁻¹ d⁻¹) than the total concentration of particulate organic carbon, which includes both higher-quality phytoplankton and lower-quality detrital material. Our results highlight the necessity of considering POM quality while evaluating the role of filter-feeders as mediators of carbon inputs into intertidal systems.
  • Keywords: Phytoplankton, Benthic–pelagic coupling, Spatial subsidies, Particulate organic carbon, Mytilus, Mussel, Growth, Stable isotope, Intertidal
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  • Bracken MES, Menge BA, Foley MM, Sorte CJB, Lubchenco J, Schiel DR (2012) Mussel selectivity for high-quality food drives carbon inputs into open-coast intertidal ecosystems. Marine Ecology Progress Series 459:53-62
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  • 459
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  • Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (grants OCE-0351778 to J. Stachowicz and OCE-0549944 to S. Williams and M.E.S.B.), Bodega Marine Laboratory institutional funds (to M.E.S.B.), the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (to J.L., B.A.M., and D.R.S.), the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO; to J.L. and B.A.M.), and the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (to D.R.S.). This is contribution number 417 from PISCO, a long-term, large-scale ecological consortium funded by the David and Lucile Packard and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundations, contribution number 283 from the Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, and a contribution from the Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis.
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