Abstract
Two marine mussels, Geukensia demissa (Dillwyn) and Mytilus edulis (L.) collected in 1990 in Old Silver Beach, Falmouth, Massachusetts, incorporated nitrogen when fed 15N-labelled organic aggregates produced from dissolved organic nitrogen released by the brown sea-weed Fucus vesiculosis. Uptake of 15N on the aggregate diet was linear over the course of 24 h, and unincorporated 15N was eliminated from the gut after 48 h. Both species of mussels incorporated approximately five times more N when they were fed organic aggregates than when they were fed either 15N-labelled dissolved organic material (DOM) or particulate detritus, both of which were also derived from the seaweed. Nitrogen uptake was greatest in controls fed the diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii; mussels fed phytoplankton incorporated seven times more nitrogen than those fed aggregates. However, aggregates could supply an estimated 7 to 14% of the N requirements for both mussels, whereas DOM or particulate detritus could only supply 1 to 3%. These data provide evidence that a food web pathway exists from primary producer to released dissolved organic nitrogen to microbial organic aggregate to metazoan consumer, and, further, that it can be more important in a detrital food web than either particulate detritus or DOM.
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Communicated by J. P. Grassle, New Brunswick
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Alber, M., Valiela, I. Incorporation of organic aggregates by marine mussels. Marine Biology 121, 259–265 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346734
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346734