Abstract
Mangrove forests are important in providing habitats for complex communities of terrestrial and marine fauna. Moreover, they are recognized as highly productive ecosystems in providing nutrients to mangrove food webs or exporting them to nearby coastal waters. In the present study, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen were applied to examine the changes in the diets of benthic invertebrate communities following mangrove restoration. The isotope signature of invertebrate tissues varied among the forest ages and locations and ranged from 3.7 ± 1.0 to 13.9 ± 1.1‰ and −26.6 ± 0.5 to −15.0 ± 0.4‰ for δ15N and δ13C, respectively. The results showed that the food source assimilation of macro-invertebrates is slightly altered from a mixture of benthic microalgae and marine phytoplankton in the mudflat to a combination of benthic microalgae and sediment organic matter in the Sonneratia caseolaris and the Kandelia obovata forests. Therefore, the diets of macro-invertebrates varied following forest ages and the position of the forest in the intertidal zone. These insights from the present study are useful for the effective conservation and restoration of mangrove forests in Vietnam and worldwide.
Highlights
Mangrove forests are one of the most productive ecosystems in coastal zones and play a significant role in global carbon (C) sequestration [1,2]
The diets of macro-invertebrates in the Hau Loc mangrove forest (HLMF) depended on different sources, including sediment organic matter (SOM), benthic microalgae (BMA), and Phy in the mudflat and Phy, SOM, BMA, and mangrove leaves (Man) in the S. caseolaris and K. obovata forests
The δ13C and δ15N signatures of the crab and gastropod communities slightly depended on the forest ages, but no difference could be found in the bivalves, polychaetes, shrimps, and mantis shrimps
Summary
Mangrove forests are one of the most productive ecosystems in coastal zones and play a significant role in global carbon (C) sequestration [1,2]. Mangrove litter and subsurface root growth are broken down by benthic invertebrates, such as leaf-eating crab and snail species, and are easy to use for the microbial colonization of the detritus food chain and promote the decomposition of detritus and nutrient cycles in the mangrove ecosystem [7]. Some invertebrates, such as mangrove crabs, can tolerate wide ranges of salinities. Viana, et al [13] showed that the stable isotope composition of food webs present at the river mouth was not affected, the terrestrial rainforest cover on watersheds was changed due to deforestation
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