Role of microhabitats in food webs of benthic communities in a mangrove forest

摘要: Mangrove benthic macro-invertebrate communities have access to various food sources. The web in this system may not be based on homogenous mangrove detritus. In order deter- mine the contributions of leaf litter and microalgae com- munity, we analyzed carbon nitrogen stable isotope ratios primary producers (mangrove litter, phytoplankton microphytobenthos), particulate organic matter, sedimentary mat- ter macro-invertebrates from 3 microhabitats (tidal creeks, inside forests forest gaps) a Trang province, Thailand. values sedi- mentary matter did differ greatly between microhabitats, were relatively sim- ilar litter. Invertebrates tidal creeks also showed δ 13 C similar whereas invertebrate tissues gaps close micro- phytobenthos values. Most invertebrates an enriched 15 N value compared local matter. These results indicate that utilize different sources microhabitats; they utilized mainly detritus forests, but microphytobenthos gaps. Moreover, biomass was highest This is important new information supporting view man- grove actually diverse combination webs variety resources, including