Individual consumer movement mediates food web coupling across a coastal ecosystem

Abstract

AbstractThe movement and foraging patterns of consumers are a major driver of nutrient and energy distribution in ecosystems. However, relatively little is known about how intraspecific variation in consumer movement behavior might affect food web coupling and ecosystem processes across landscapes and seascapes. Here we use long‐term acoustic telemetry and stable isotope niche metrics to understand how differences in predatory fish movement patterns control food web coupling and resource subsidies across the Florida Coastal Everglades (USA). We found common snook (Centropomus undecimalis) that spent most of their time in freshwater riverine areas of the Shark River Estuary primarily foraged on prey subsidies originating from adjacent marsh habitats, serving as an important vector of nutrient subsidies to downstream habitats. Snook that spent the majority of their time in downstream estuarine habitats displayed a diversity of resource usage across wide spatial scales, occupied a much larger trophic niche, and serve as a multidirectional vector of trophic coupling among marine, estuarine, and freshwater riverine habitats. These results demonstrate how individual variations in predator movement behavior can mediate the direction and scale of food web subsidies across coastal seascapes.