The jumbo squid Dosidicus gigas plays an important role in marine food webs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, as not only a voracious predator but also a valuable prey source. In this study, the proostracum (a morphological part of the gladius) from 45 samples were selected over three years and were serially sampled based on growth information obtained from the statolith. The δ13C and δ15N values along the proostracum were used to reconstruct the feeding variations of D. gigas and to evaluate the potential effects of 2009–10 El Niño event on the variability of their trophic patterns. The results show a strong variation in δ13C and δ15N values along the proostracum for all the squid; changes that could be determined by temporal variation of foraging as well as migration among regions with distinct baselines. An El Niño event could decrease the variation of trophic patterns of squid through compressing the space and time for foraging and migration. These results support our general hypothesis that a time-based consecutive sampling of the gladius can back-calculate an ontogenetic shift and the possible migration patterns of squids more precisely and comprehensively and suggest that the isotopic values of D.gigas might be influenced much more by their migration behavior.

This study experimentally determined the impact of food source type on turnover rate and trophic enrichment factors (TEFs or ∆) of δ13C and δ15N, as well as on respiration rate, in captive populations of the marine amphipod Gammarus aequicauda. Gammarus aequicauda (318 individuals) were fed ad libitum with three food sources animal, algae, and dead Posidonia oceanica leaves (also called “litter”), varying in palatability, digestibility , nutritional qualities and isotopic compositions, for between four and six weeks in a controlled feeding experiment. The resulting death rate was lower for the amphipods fed with animal treatment (30.9%) than for individuals fed with algal (65.9%) or litter treatment (64.4%), indicating a better fitness of the individuals fed with the animal food source. Respiration rates also differed highly among the treatments. Animal treatment showed higher respiration rates than algal and litter treatments, potentially due to the toxicity of the algae and the very low nutritional quality of the litter. Amphipods fed with these treatments might have entered in a “low activity state” to cope with these unsuitable food sources, inducing low respiration rates. Due to the very low assimilation and toxicity of the algae source, turnover rate for δ13C was impossible to determine. Turnover rate for δ13C was much faster (half-life=12.55days) for amphipods fed with the animal food source than for amphipods fed with litter (half-life=51.62days), showing the faster assimilation of the most nutritionally optimal food sources by G. aequicauda. Turnover for δ15N was impossible to determine because the amphipods were already at isotopic equilibrium at the beginning of the experiment. Despite the detritus feeder status of Gammarus aequicauda, TEFs for the animal treatments were in accordance with values generally found for carnivorous organisms (∆13C=0.9±0.7‰; ∆15N=2.9±0.6‰). TEFs for the litter treatment were in accordance with values generally corresponding to detritivorous organisms (∆13C=1.2‰; ∆15N=1.0±0.4‰). SIAR mixing model outputs obtained with these new TEF values were more constrained and coherent than outputs obtained with general literature TEFs. This study thus demonstrated the non-negligible impact of the food source on Gammarus aequicauda physiological status, fitness and turnover rates, but also on TEFs—highlighting the importance of TEF experimental calculations for every potential food source of a given organism to ensure more robust isotopic data interpretation.

Dietary habits and intra- and inter-specific trophic ecology of co-occurring Lepidotrigla mulhalli and L. vanessa from south-eastern Australia were analysed using stomach content and stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N). Both species are bottom-feeding carnivores that consumed mainly benthic crustaceans, but teleosts were also abundant in the diet of larger L. vanessa. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) ordination and analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) of dietary data revealed significant inter-specific dietary differences; i.e. food resource partitioning. Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope values were similar between L. mulhalli and L. vanessa, however, suggesting similar trophic positioning. Ontogenetic changes in diet composition and stable isotope values were evident. As L. vanessa grew, they preyed upon larger individuals, such as teleosts and caridean shrmips, but no such trend was observed in the diets of L. mulhalli. Adults of both species were significantly enriched in 15N relative to juvenile conspecifics thus supporting these data. Consequently, in this study, both methodologies, i.e. stomach content and stable isotope analyses, provided evidence of inter- and/or intra-specific dietary segregations and trophic niche partitioning between co-occurring L. mulhalli and L. vanessa off Tasmanian waters.

New England salt marshes are susceptible to degradation and habitat loss as a result of increased periods of inundation as sea levels rise. Increased inundation may exacerbate marsh degradation that can result from crab burrowing and foraging. Most studies to date have focused on how crab burrowing and foraging can impact the dominant low marsh plant species, Spartina alterniflora. Here we used a mesocosm experiment to examine the relationship of foraging and burrowing activity in two dominant New England crab species, Sesarma reticulatum and Uca pugilator, and the combined effect of inundation, on the dominant high marsh plant species Spartina patens using a 3×2 factorial design with three crab treatments (Sesarma, Uca, control) at two levels of inundation (low, high). Plants were labeled with a nitrogen (N) stable isotope tracer to estimate plant consumption by the two crab species. At both levels of inundation, we found that S. reticulatum had a significant negative impact on both above- and below-ground biomass by physically clipping and uprooting the plants, whereas U. pugilator had no significant impact. Low inundation treatments for both crab species had significantly greater aboveground biomass than high inundation. Stable N isotope tracer levels were roughly the same for both S. reticulatum and U. pugilator tissue, suggesting that the impact of S. reticulatum on S. patens was not through consumption of the plants. Overall, our results suggest the potential for S. reticulatum to negatively impact marsh stability, and that effects of crab foraging behavior may be heightened by increased inundation.