Measuring changes in consumer resource availability to riverine pulsing in Breton Sound, Louisiana, USA

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 7; no. 5; p. e37536
• Main Authors: Piazza, Bryan P, La Peyre, Megan K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 30.05.2012; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animals; Aquatic Organisms - metabolism; Availability; Bayous; Biology; Biomass; Biomass energy production; Climate change; Consumers; Density; Discharge; Earth Sciences; Ecosystems; Energy; Energy Metabolism; Estuaries; Exploitation; Fish; Fishes; Flood predictions; Floods; Flux density; Food Chain; Food chains; Food webs; Habitats; Hydrology; Inflow; Laboratory animals; Louisiana; Measurement; Natural resources; Nekton; Predatory Behavior; Residential density; Resource availability; River discharge; River flow; Rivers; Salinity; Salmo salar; Salmo trutta; Salmonidae; Subsidies; Water discharge; Water inflow; Water levels; Louisiana; Baton Rouge Louisiana; Breton Sound; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0037536

Resource pulses are thought to structure communities and food webs through the assembly of consumers. Aggregated consumers represent a high quality resource subsidy that becomes available for trophic transfer during and after the pulse. In estuarine systems, riverine flood pulses deliver large quantities of basal resources and make high quality habitat available for exploitation by consumers. These consumers represent a change in resources that may be available for trophic transfer. We quantified this increased consumer resource availability (nekton density, biomass, energy density) provided by riverine flood pulsing in Breton Sound, Louisiana, USA. We used water level differences between an area subject to two experimental riverine flood pulses (inflow) and a reference area not receiving inflow to identify the percentage of nekton standing stock and energy density that may be attributable solely to riverine pulsing and may represent a consumer resource subsidy. Riverine pulsing accounted for more than 60% of resident nekton density (ind m(-2)), biomass (g m(-2)), and energy density (cal m(-2)) on the flooded marsh surface during two experimental pulse events in 2005. Our results document the potential subsidy of resident nekton standing stock from a riverine flood pulse available for export to subtidal habitats. Given predicted large scale changes in river discharge globally, this approach could provide a useful tool for quantifying the effects of changes in riverine discharge on consumer resource availability.