Stable isotope food web analysis of a large subtropical lake: alternative explanations for 15N enrichment of pelagic vs. littoral fisheries

The food webs of littoral, pelagic, and littoral-pelagic ecotone (interface) regions of a large subtropical lake were investigated using stable isotope ratio methods, expanding the focus of a previous fish-only study to include other food web components such as primary producers and invertebrates. In these food webs, delta13C increased approximately 4 per thousand and delta15N increased approximately 10 per thousand from primary producers to fish. The delta15N of fish was approximately 9 per thousand in the littoral zone, approximately 10 per thousand in the ecotone, and approximately 12 per thousand in the pelagic zone. The cross-habitat enrichment in fish 15N corresponded with both an increase in the size of fish...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: Animals, Ecosystem, Eleocharis, Environme, Environment