Trophic role and predatory interactions between the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, and native species in open waters of the Ebro Delta
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Author
Baeta, Marc
Mestre, Estel
Solis, Marco Antonio
Camps-Castellà, Judith
Falco, Silvia
Ballesteros, Manuel
Publication date
2024-01-14ISSN
0272-7714
Abstract
The Ebro Delta has become a major blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) fishery area in the NW Mediterranean, but there is limited information on factors controlling the abundance of populations in open waters, a crucial habitat for ovigerous females. Here, we use a stable isotope approach (δ15N and δ13C), to assess blue crab trophic position, the potential consumption of food items using mixing models, and the isotopic niche overlap with local commercial species. For Octopus vulgaris, a potential blue crab key predator, a trophic enrichment experiment was also conducted to further assess predation control in wild populations. The blue crab showed 1.6 times higher trophic position than in other habitats of the Ebro Delta, and similar to that found in the harbor crab, Liocarcinus depurator, and several predatory fish. Additionally, the isotopic niche of blue crabs showed overlaps from 46.2 to 14.9% with native predators, and mixing models also suggest even dietary contributions throughout the food web. For O. vulgaris, field results showed a trophic position of 3.93, lower than that of blue crab, and lower δ15N signatures were also obtained in a captivity experiment drawing negative fractionation (−1.1‰). We conclude that high dietary contribution of animal prey might provide a high protein diet that could be crucial for allowing the maintenance of a large local population, but the overall functional trophic similarity could also disfavor local native species. The similarity between experimental fractionation and field differences between predator and prey (−1.6‰) suggests that predation of blue crab is possible, but further research is needed to clarify the metabolic routes involved in octopus δ15N fractionation.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Accepted version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
574 - General ecology and biodiversity
637 - Produce of domestic (farmyard) animals and game
Pages
31
Publisher
Elsevier
Is part of
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
Citation
Prado, Patricia, Marc Baeta, Estel Mestre, Marco Antonio Solis, Ignasi Sanahuja, Ignasi Gairin, Judith Camps-Castellà, Silvia Falco, and Manuel Ballesteros. 2023. “Trophic role and predatory interactions between the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, and native species in open waters of the Ebro Delta.” Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2024.108638
Grant agreement number
MICIU/Programa Estatal de generación del conocimiento y fortalecimiento científico y tecnológico del sistema I+D+I y Programa Estatal de I+D+I orientada a los retos de la sociedad/PID2020-118476RR-C21/ES/Ecology and impact of the Atlantic blue crab in Spain Mediterranean coastal lagoons, estuaries, and adjacent waters/ECESIS
Program
Aigües Marines i Continentals
Aqüicultura
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2555]
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/