Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Feb 1:613-614:196-207.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.281. Epub 2017 Sep 12.

Carbon and nitrogen elemental and isotopic ratios of filter-feeding bivalves along the French coasts: An assessment of specific, geographic, seasonal and multi-decadal variations

Nicolas Briant  1 , Nicolas Savoye  2 , Tiphaine Chouvelon  3 , Valérie David  2 , Samuel Rodriguez  2 , Karine Charlier  4 , Jeroen E Sonke  5 , Jean François Chiffoleau  6 , Christophe Brach-Papa  3 , Joël Knoery  3
Affiliations

Carbon and nitrogen elemental and isotopic ratios of filter-feeding bivalves along the French coasts: An assessment of specific, geographic, seasonal and multi-decadal variations

Nicolas Briant et al. Sci Total Environ. .

Abstract

Primary consumers play a key role in coastal ecosystems by transferring organic matter from primary producers to predators. Among them, suspension-feeders, like bivalve molluscs are widely used in trophic web studies. The main goal of this study was to investigate variations of C and N elemental and isotopic ratios in common bivalves (M. edulis, M. galloprovincialis, and C. gigas) at large spatial (i.e. among three coastal regions) and different temporal (i.e. from seasonal to multi-decadal) scales in France, in order to identify potential general or specific patterns and speculate on their drivers. The observed spatial variability was related to the trophic status of the coastal regions (oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea versus meso- to eutrophic English Channel and Atlantic ocean), but not to ecosystem typology (estuaries, versus lagoons versus bays versus littoral systems). Furthermore, it highlighted local specificities in terms of the origin of the POM assimilated by bivalves (e.g., mainly continental POM vs. marine phytoplankton vs. microphytobenthic algae). Likewise, seasonal variability was related both to the reproduction cycle for C/N ratios of Mytilus spp. and to changes in trophic resources for δ13C of species located close to river mouth. Multi-decadal evolution exhibited shifts and trends for part of the 30-year series with decreases in δ13C and δ15N. Specifically, shifts appeared in the early 2000's, likely linking bivalve isotopic ratios to a cascade of processes affected by local drivers.

Keywords: Bivalves; Carbon; Coastal ecosystems; Elemental and isotope ratios; France; Nitrogen.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

LinkOut - more resources