Dataset Information

Seasonal variability of diet and trophic level of the gelatinous predator Pelagia noctiluca (Scyphozoa).

ABSTRACT: Jellyfish populations apparently have increased in some places around the world and human problems with them also have increased. However, effects of jellyfish outbreaks in the ecosystems remain poorly understood and little or no information is available on their dietary preferences - in relation to the seasonal shifts of prey abundance - and on the potential variability of their impact on marine food webs. The mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca (Forsskål, 1775) is by far the most common outbreak-forming scyphozoan jellyfish in the Western Mediterranean. By use of a combination of stomach contents, stable isotope (SI) and fatty acid (FA) analyses, we tested the hypothesis that changes in the seasonal dietary sources of P. noctiluca parallel changes in the FA and SI composition. Stomach content and biomarker analyses suggested that P. noctiluca is not a selective predator, cyclically shifting between carnivory and omnivory depending on the seasonality of accessible prey. The combination of SI and FA analyses highlighted the importance of microzooplankton as prey. Specific FA biomarkers showed that the diet of P. noctiluca changed seasonally depending on the availability of living plankton or suspended detritus. This study also revealed significant biochemical differences between jellyfish somatic and gonadal tissues, with total fatty acid concentration in the gonads up to ten times higher than in the somatic tissues.

SUBMITTER: Milisenda G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6092325 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Seasonal variability of diet and trophic level of the gelatinous predator Pelagia noctiluca (Scyphozoa).

Milisenda Giacomo G Rossi Sergio S Vizzini Salvatrice S Fuentes Veronica L VL Purcell Jennifer E JE Tilves Uxue U Piraino Stefano S

Scientific reports 20180814 1

Jellyfish populations apparently have increased in some places around the world and human problems with them also have increased. However, effects of jellyfish outbreaks in the ecosystems remain poorly understood and little or no information is available on their dietary preferences - in relation to the seasonal shifts of prey abundance - and on the potential variability of their impact on marine food webs. The mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca (Forsskål, 1775) is by far the most common outbreak-f ...[more]

PMID: 30108231

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Project description:Empirical patterns that emerge from an examination of food webs over gradients of environmental variation can help to predict the implications of anthropogenic disturbance on ecosystems. This "dynamic food web approach" is rarely applied at the coastal margin where aquatic and terrestrial systems are coupled and human development activities are often concentrated. We propose a simple model of ghost crab (Ocypode quadrata) feeding that predicts changing dominant prey (Emerita talpoida, Talorchestia sp., Donax variablis) along a gradient of beach morphology and test this model using a suite of 16 beaches along the Florida, USA coast. Assessment of beaches included quantification of morphological features (width, sediments, slope), macrophyte wrack, macro-invertebrate prey and active ghost crab burrows. Stable isotope analysis of carbon ((13)C/(12)C) and nitrogen ((15)N/(14)N) and the SIAR mixing model were used to determine dietary composition of ghost crabs at each beach. The variation in habitat conditions displayed with increasing beach width was accompanied by quantifiable shifts in ghost crab diet and trophic position. Patterns of ghost crab diet were consistent with differences recorded across the beach width gradient with respect to the availability of preferred micro-habitats of principal macro-invertebrate prey. Values obtained for trophic position also suggests that the generalist ghost crab assembles and augments its diet in fundamentally different ways as habitat morphology varies across a highly dynamic ecosystem. Our results offer support for a functional response in the trophic architecture of a common food web compartment (ghost crabs, macro-invertebrate prey) across well-known beach morphologies. More importantly, our "dynamic food web approach" serves as a basis for evaluating how globally wide-spread sandy beach ecosystems should respond to a variety of anthropogenic impacts including beach grooming, beach re-nourishment, introduction of non-native or feral predators and human traffic on beaches.

Dataset Information

Seasonal variability of diet and trophic level of the gelatinous predator Pelagia noctiluca (Scyphozoa).

Publications

Seasonal variability of diet and trophic level of the gelatinous predator Pelagia noctiluca (Scyphozoa).

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