Comparison of Nekton Use for Cordgrass Spartina alterniflora and Bulrush Scirpus mariqueter Marshes in the Yangtze River Estuary, China

• Published in: Estuaries and coasts Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 405 - 416
• Main Authors: Quan, Weimin, Shi, Liyan, Chen, Yaqu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Spring Science + Business Media 01.03.2011; Springer-Verlag; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acanthogobius; Animal and plant ecology; Animal populations; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Aquatic ecology; Aquatic plants; Biological and medical sciences; Biomass; Brackish; Brackish water ecosystems; Chelon; Coastal Sciences; Decapoda; Dominant species; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological invasion; Ecology; Environment; Environmental Management; Estuaries; Exopalaemon carinicauda; Fish; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Freshwater fishes; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Lift nets; Liza carinata; Marine; Marine ecology; Marshes; Native species; Nekton; Nonnative species; Ordination; Population density; Salt marshes; Scirpus mariqueter; Spartina alterniflora; Synecology; Water and Health; Wetland ecology; Asia; China; China, People's Rep., Changjiang R; Lift net; Fish; Habitat; Density; Invasion; Brackish water environment; Monocotyledones; Gramineae; Angiospermae; Estuaries; Marsh; Spermatophyta; Spartina alterniflora; Necton; Yangtze River
• ISSN: 1559-2723; 1559-2731
• DOI: 10.1007/s12237-010-9344-8

To test whether invasive Spartina alterniflora marshes were functionally equivalent to native Scirpus mariqueter marshes, the present study used bottomless lift nets (20 m²) during 12 high-tide events from August to October 2008 to compare nekton densities and biomass between the two marsh types in the Dongtan wetland. A total of eight species of fish, two species of shrimp, and three species of crab were collected. So-iny mullet Chelon haematocheilus, keeled mullet Liza carinata, Asian freshwater goby Acanthogobius ommaturus, and ridge-tail prawn Exopalaemon carinicauda dominated samples from the two marsh types and accounted for over 90% of the total catch. There were significantly greater densities and biomass (p< 0.05) of total nekton (all species combined) and two mullets (C haematocheilus and L. carinata) in S. alterniflora marshes than in S. mariqueter marshes in August 2008, while no significant differences (p> 0.05) between the two marsh types were observed for densities and biomass of any species or total nekton in September and October 2008. Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination did not show clear separation of samples between the two marsh types (r= 0.071,p = 0.159). Furthermore, there were no habitat-specific differences (p>0.05) in the size distributions of the three numerically dominant species (C. haematocheilus, L. carinata, and A. ommaturus). We concluded that S. alterniflora marshes were utilized by nekton in a fashion similar to their utilization of native S. mariqueter marshes under similar physical conditions.