Primary Sources and Food Web Structure of a Tropical Wetland with High Density of Mangrove Forest

Abstract

The trophic ecology of wetlands with mangrove forests remains poorly understood. Through the use of stomach contents analysis, stable isotope signatures, and Bayesian mixing models, the food web of a tropical wetland in the gulf of California was investigated. Consumers had heterogeneous diets, omnivores were the most abundant species (47%), followed by planktivorous (21%), minor piscivores (10%), major piscivores (10%), macrobenthivores (9%), and herbivores (3%). The values of δ13C (from −12 to −29‰) and δ15N (from 4 to 24‰) showed a wide range of isotopic values of the consumers. Most of the species had a broad isotopic niche and there was a large diet overlap of species due to the exploitation of a common set of food resources. Five trophic levels were identified, with the weakfish (Cynoscion xanthulus) as the top predator of this system with detritus coming from the mangrove as the main source that supports the food chain. This highlights the importance of the mangrove forests to such ecosystems, because not only they are the most important primary food source, but also, they offer habitat to a large suite of fauna, which are important components of the trophic chain.