Journal Article

Kelp as a trophic resource for marine suspension feeders: a review of isotope-based evidence

Miller, Robert J., Page, Henry M.

2012

Overview

Kelp forests are enormously productive, and they and adjacent habitats support large populations of suspension feeders. What do these suspension feeders eat? Intuitively, we might expect that kelp primary production is a key form of trophic support for these animals. Indeed, a large and growing number of studies using carbon stable isotope data, typically collected over short time periods, have asserted that detritus from kelps is an important, and in some cases the main, food source for coastal benthic suspension feeders. This view has been incorporated into several textbooks and review papers covering kelp forest ecosystems, and loss of trophic support for benthic suspension feeders is now often invoked as an ecosystem consequence of top-down or other impacts on kelp forests. More direct evidence, however, suggests that these animals mainly eat phytoplankton and, in some cases, bacteria or zooplankton. Because isotope values of pure coastal phytoplankton, uncontaminated with detritus, are difficult to obtain, present studies have largely relied on single measurements from offshore environments or from the literature, which typically reflects offshore values. We review the evidence showing that phytoplankton isotope values can, and are expected to, vary widely in coastal waters and that inshore phytoplankton may often be enriched in 13 C compared to offshore phytoplankton. This unaccounted-for variation may have systematically biased the results of such trophic studies toward finding large contributions of kelp detritus to suspension-feeder diets. We review some key stable isotope studies and put forth evidence for alternative explanations of the isotope patterns presented. Finally, we make recommendations for future isotope studies and describe several approaches for progress in this area. New techniques, particularly flow cytometry and compound-specific stable isotope analysis, provide ways to shed light on this interesting and important ecological issue.

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Algae / Animal and plant ecology / Animal, plant and microbial ecology / animals / bacteria / Biological and medical sciences / Biomedical and Life Sciences / carbon / coastal water / Coastal waters / Concept / Detritus / diet / flow cytometry / Food chains / foods / Forest ecosystems / forests / Freshwater & Marine Ecology / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / habitats / Isotope studies / Isotopes / Kelp bed ecology / Life Sciences / macroalgae / Marine / Marine & Freshwater Sciences / Marine biology / Marine ecology / marine resources / Microbiology / Oceanography / Phytoplankton / Primary production / primary productivity / Review / Sea water ecosystems / Stable isotopes / Synecology / Synthesis / Trophic levels / Zoology / Zooplankton