Food Web Structure of the Alaskan Nearshore Shelf and Estuarine Lagoons of the Beaufort Sea

Estuaries and Coasts

Volumn 35, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 416-435

  Dunton, Kenneth H ^a   Schonberg, Susan V ^a   Cooper, Lee W ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE   (United States)

Author keywords

Arctic coast; Beaufort Sea; Benthic community structure; Camden Bay; Carbon; Climate change; Demarcation Bay; Estuarine lagoon; Food webs; Nitrogen; Stable isotopes; Trophic structure

Indexed keywords

BENTHOS; BIOGEOCHEMISTRY; CARBON ISOTOPE; CLIMATE CHANGE; COASTAL LAGOON; DETRITIVORY; ESTUARINE ECOSYSTEM; FOOD WEB; ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION; NEARSHORE ENVIRONMENT; NITROGEN ISOTOPE; SHELF SEA; SHORELINE; STABLE ISOTOPE; SUSPENDED PARTICULATE MATTER; WATER COLUMN;

ALASKA; ARCTIC OCEAN; BEAUFORT SEA; UNITED STATES;

AVES; GASTROPODA; PISCES;

EID: 84857652665     PISSN: 15592723     EISSN: 15592731     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s12237-012-9475-1     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. Antonio, E. S., A. Kasai, M. Ueno, Y. Kurikawa, K. Tsuchiya, H. Toyohara, Y. Ishihi, H. Yokoyama, and Y. Yamashita. 2010. Consumption of terrestrial organic matter by estuarine molluscs determined by analysis of their stable isotopes and cellulase activity. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 86: 401-407.
2. Attrill, M. J., S. D. Rundle, A. Fraser, and M. Power. 2009. Oligochaetes as a possible entry route for terrigenous organic carbon into estuarine benthic food webs. Marine Ecology Progress Series 384: 147-157.
3. Barnard, C., C. Martineau, J. J. Frenette, J. J. Dodson, and W. F. Vincent. 2006. Trophic position of zebra mussel veligers and their use of dissolved organic carbon. Limnology and Oceanography 51: 1473-1484.
4. Benner, R., B. Benitez-Nelson, K. Kaiser, and R. M. W. Amon. 2004. Export of young terrigenous dissolved organic carbon from rivers to the Arctic Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters 31: L05305. doi: 10. 1029/2003GL019251.
5. Brown, S. C. 2006. Arctic wings: birds of the Arctic national wildlife refuge. Mountaineers Books. Seattle: Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences.
6. Carey, A. G., P. H. Scott, and K. R. Walters. 1984. Distributional ecology of shallow southwestern Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean) bivalve mollusca. Marine Ecology Progress Series 17: 125-134.
7. Cividanes, S., M. Incera, and J. Lopez. 2002. Temporal variability in the biochemical composition of sedimentary organic matter in an intertidal flat of the Galician coast (NW Spain). Oceanologica Acta 25: 1-12.
8. Coffin, R. B., and L. A. Cifuentes. 1999. Stable isotope analysis of carbon cycling in the Perdido Estuary, Florida. Estuaries 22: 917-926.
9. Connolly, R. M., T. A. Schlacher, and T. F. Gaston. 2009. Stable isotope evidence for trophic subsidy of coastal benthic fisheries by river discharge plumes off small estuaries. Marine Biology Research 5: 164-171.
10. Connors, P. G. 1984. Ecology of shorebirds in the Alaskan Beaufort littoral zone. In The Alaskan Beaufort Sea: ecosystems and environments, ed. P. W. Barnes, D. M. Schell, and E. Reimnitz, 403-416. Orlando: Academic.
11. Cooper, L. W., J. M. Grebmeier, I. L. Larsen, V. G. Egorov, C. Theodorakis, H. P. Kelly, and J. R. Lovvorn. 2002. Seasonal variation in sedimentation of organic materials in the St. Lawrence Island polynya region, Bering Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 226: 13-26.
12. Cooper, L. W., R. Benner, J. W. McClelland, B. J. Peterson, R. M. Holmes, P. A. Raymond, D. A. Hansell, J. M. Grebmeier, and L. A. Codispoti. 2005. Linkages among runoff, dissolved organic carbon, and the stable isotope composition of seawater and other water mass indicators in the Arctic Ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences 110: G02013. doi: 1029/2005JG000031.
13. Cooper, L. W., C. Lalande, R. S. Pirtle-Levy, I. L. Larsen, and J. M. Grebmeier. 2009. Seasonal and decadal shifts in particulate organic matter processing and sedimentation in the Bering Strait Shelf Region. Deep-Sea Research Part II 56: 1316-1325.
14. Couch, C. A. 1989. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes of meiobenthos and their food resources. Estuarine and Coastal Shelf Science 28: 433-441.
15. Craig, P. C. 1984. Fish use of coastal waters of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea-a review. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 113: 265-282.
16. Craig, P. C., W. B. Griffiths, S. R. Johnson, and D. Schell. 1984. Trophic dynamics in an arctic lagoon. In The Alaskan Beaufort Sea: ecosystems and environments, ed. P. W. Barnes, D. M. Schell, and E. Reimnitz, 347-380. Orlando: Academic.
17. Darnaude, A. M., C. Salen-Picard, N. V. C. Polunin, and M. L. Harmelin-Vivien. 2004. Trophodynamic linkage between river runoff and coastal fishery yield elucidated by stable isotope data in the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean). Oecologia 138: 325-332.
18. Dittmar, T., and G. Kattner. 2003. The biogeochemistry of the river and shelf ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean: a review. Marine Chemistry 83: 103-120.
19. 13C measurements of Antarctic peninsula fauna: trophic relationships and assimilation of benthic seaweeds. American Zoologist 41: 99-112.
20. 13C evidence. Marine Biology 93: 615-625.
21. Dunton, K. H., and S. V. Schonberg. 2000. The benthic faunal assemblage of the Boulder Patch kelp community. In The natural history of an Arctic oil field: development and the biota, ed. J. C. Truett and S. R. Johnson, 371-397. Boston: Academic.
22. Dunton, K. H., and S. V. Schonberg. 2006. Barter Island to Demarcation Bay: a preliminary benthic survey of Arctic coastal lagoons. Fairbanks: Final Report to USF& WS, Arctic Refuge.
23. Dunton, K. H., S. M. Saupe, A. N. Golikov, D. M. Schell, and S. V. Schonberg. 1989. Trophic relationships and isotopic gradients among arctic and subarctic marine fauna. Marine Ecology Progress Series 56: 89-97.
24. Dunton, K. H., J. L. Goodall, S. V. Schonberg, J. M. Grebmeier, and D. R. Maidment. 2005. Multi-decadal synthesis of benthic-pelagic coupling in the western arctic: role of cross-shelf advective processes. Deep-Sea Research Part II 52: 3462-3477.
25. Dunton, K. H., T. Weingartner, and E. C. Carmack. 2006. The nearshore western Beaufort Sea ecosystem: circulation and importance of terrestrial carbon in arctic coastal food webs. Progress in Oceanography 71: 362-378.
26. Dunton, K. H., S. V. Schonberg, and D. W. Funk. 2009. Interannual and spatial variability in light attenuation: evidence from three decades of growth in the arctic kelp, Laminaria solidungula. In Smithsonian at the poles: contributions to international polar science, ed. Krupnick et al., 271-284. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
27. Dunton, K. H., S. V. Schonberg, and N. D. McTigue. 2009. Characterization of Benthic Habitats in Camden Bay (Sivulliq Prospect and Hammerhead Drill Sites), Beaufort Sea, Alaska. Anchorage: Final Report to Shell Exploration and Production Company, Alaska.
28. Emmett, R., R. Llanso, J. Newton, R. Thom, M. Hornberger, C. Morgan, C. Levings, A. Copping, and P. Fishman. 2000. Geographic signatures of North American West Coast estuaries. Estuaries 23: 765-792.
29. Feder, H. M. and D. Schamel. 1976. Shallow-water benthic fauna of Prudhoe Bay. Pages 329-359 in D. W. Hood and D. C. Burrell, editors. Assessment of the Arctic Marine Environment. Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska.
30. Gallaway, B. J., and R. G. Fechhelm. 2000. Anadromous and amphidromous fishes. In The natural history of an Arctic oil field: development and the biota, ed. J. C. Truett and S. R. Johnson, 349-370. Boston: Academic.
31. Gordeev, V. V., J. M. Martin, I. S. Sidorov, and M. V. Sidorova. 1996. A reassessment of the Eurasian River input of water, sediment, major elements, and nutrients to the Arctic Ocean. American Journal of Science 296: 664-691.
32. Grebmeier, J. M., L. W. Cooper, H. M. Feder, and B. I. Sirenko. 2006. Ecosystem dynamics of the Pacific-influenced northern Bering, Chukchi, and East Siberian Seas. Progress in Oceanography 71: 331-361.
33. Griffiths, W. B., and R. E. Dillinger. 1981. Beaufort Sea barrier island-lagoon ecological process studies: the invertebrates. Environmental Assessment of the Alaskan Continental Shelf 8: 1-359.
34. Griffiths, W. B., J. K. Den Beste, and P. C. Craig. 1977. Fisheries investigations in a coastal lagoon region of the Beaufort Sea (Kaktovik Lagoon, Alaska). Arctic Gas Biological Report Series 40(2): 1-190.
35. Hammerschlag-Peyer, C. M., L. A. Yeager, M. S. Araújo, and C. A. Layman. 2011. A hypothesis-testing framework for studies investigating ontogenetic niche shifts using stable isotope ratios. PLoS ONE 6(11): e27104.
36. Hjelset, A. M., M. Andersen, I. Gjertz, C. Lydersen, and B. Gulliksen. 1999. Feeding habits of bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) from the Svalbard area, Norway. Polar Biology 21(3): 186-193.
37. Hobson, K. A. 2008. Applying isotopic methods to tracking animal movements. In Tracking animal migration with stable isotopes, ed. K. A. Hobson and L. I. Wassenaar, 45-78. London: Elsevier.
38. Hoffman, J. C., D. A. Bronk, and J. E. Olney. 2008. Organic matter sources supporting lower food web production in the tidal freshwater portion of the York River Estuary, Virginia. Estuaries and Coasts 31: 898-911.
39. Holmes, R. M., J. W. McClelland, P. A. Raymond, B. B. Frazer, B. J. Peterson, and M. Stieglitz. 2008. Lability of DOC transported by Alaskan rivers to the Arctic Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters 35: L03402. doi: 10. 1029/2007GL032837.
40. Iken, K., B. Bluhm, and K. Dunton. 2010. Benthic food-web structure under differing water mass properties in the southern Chukchi Sea. Deep-Sea Research Part II 57: 71-85.
41. Incze, L. S., L. M. Mayer, E. B. Sherr, and S. A. Macko. 1982. Carbon inputs to bivalve molluscs; a comparison of two estuaries. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 39: 1348-1352.
42. Johnson, S. R., and W. J. Richardson. 1981. Beaufort Sea barrier island-lagoon ecological process studies: birds. Environmental Assessment of the Alaskan Continental Shelf Final Report 7: 109-383.
43. Jorgensen, L. L., T. H. Pearson, N. A. Anisimova, B. Gulliksen, S. Dahle, S. G. Denisenko, and G. G. Matishov. 1999. Environmental influences on benthic fauna associations of the Kara Sea (Arctic Russia). Polar Biology 22: 395-416.
44. Kasai, A., H. Horie, and W. Sakamoto. 2004. Selection of food sources by Ruditapes philippinarum and Mactra veneriformis (Bivalva: Mollusca) determined from stable isotope analysis. Fisheries Science 70: 11-20.
45. Korb, R. E., J. A. Raven, A. M. Johnston, and J. W. Leftley. 1996. Effects of cell size and specific growth rate on stable carbon isotope discrimination by two species of marine diatom. Marine Ecology Progress Series 143: 283-288.
46. Legezynska, J. 2008. Food resource partitioning among Arctic sublittoral lysianassoid amphipods in summer. Polar Biology 31: 663-670.
47. Lobbes, J. M., H. P. Fitznar, and G. Kattner. 2000. Biogeochemical characteristics of dissolved and particulate organic matter in Russian rivers entering the Arctic Ocean. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 64: 2973-2983.
48. Lovvorn, J. R., L. W. Cooper, M. L. Brooks, C. C. De Ruyck, J. K. Bump, and J. M. Grebmeier. 2005. Organic matter pathways to zooplankton and benthos under pack ice in late winter and open water in late summer in the north-central Bering Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 291: 135-150.
49. Lowry, L. F., K. J. Frost, and J. J. Burns. 1980. Feeding of bearded seals in the Bering and Chukchi Seas and trophic interaction with Pacific walruses. Arctic 33(2): 330-342.
50. Macdonald, R. W., E. Sakshaug, and R. Stein. 2004. The Arctic Ocean: modern status and recent climate change. In The organic carbon cycle in the Arctic Ocean, ed. R. Stein and R. W. Macdonald, 6-21. Berlin: Springer.
51. Macdonald, T. A., B. J. Burd, V. I. Macdonald, and A. van Roodselaar. 2010. Taxonomic and feeding guild classification for the marine benthic macroinvertebrates of the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 2874: iv + 63 p.
52. McClelland, J. W., S. J. Déry, B. J. Peterson, R. M. Holmes, and E. F. Wood. 2006. A pan-arctic evaluation of changes in river discharge during the latter half of the 20th century. Geophysical Research Letters 33: L06715. doi: 10. 1029/2006GL025753.
53. McClelland, J., R. M. Holmes, K. H. Dunton, and R. W. MacDonald. 2011. The Arctic Ocean estuary. Estuaries and Coasts. doi: 10. 1007/s12237-010-9357-3.
54. McLeod, R. J., and S. R. Wing. 2009. Strong pathways for incorporation of terrestrially derived organic matter into benthic communities. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 82: 645-653.
55. Montagna, P. A., and R. D. Kalke. 1992. The effect of fresh-water inflow on meiofaunal and macrofaunal populations in the Guadalupe and Nueces estuaries, Texas. Estuaries 15: 307-326.
56. Morata, N., P. E. Renaud, S. Brugel, K. A. Hobson, and B. J. Johnson. 2008. Spatial and seasonal variations in the pelagic-benthic coupling of the southeastern Beaufort Sea revealed by sedimentary biomarkers. Marine Ecology Progress Series 371(47-63): 2008.
57. 13C) of Arctic Amerasian continental shelf sediments. International Journal of Earth Sciences 89: 522-532.
58. Nolan, M., R. Churchwell, J. M. Adams, J. McClelland, K. Tape, S. Kendall, A. et al. 2011. Predicting the impact of glacier loss on fish, birds, floodplains, and estuaries in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Pages 49-54 in C. N. Medley et al., editors. Observing, Studying and Managing for Change. Proceedings of the Fourth Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds: U. S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5169.
59. Norton, D., and G. Weller. 1984. The Beaufort Sea: background, history and perspective. In The Alaskan Beaufort Sea: ecosystems and environments, ed. P. W. Barnes, D. M. Schell, and E. Reimnitz, 3-19. Orlando: Academic.
60. Parsons, T. R., Y. Maita, and C. M. Lalli. 1984. A manual of chemical and biological methods for seawater analysis. Oxford: Pergamon.
61. Parsons, T. R., D. G. Webb, H. Dovey, R. Haigh, M. Lawrence, and G. E. Hopky. 1988. Production studies in the Mackenzie River-Beaufort Sea estuary. Polar Biology 8: 235-239.
62. Parsons, T. R., D. G. Webb, B. E. Rokeby, M. Lawrence, G. E. Hopky, and D. B. Chiperzak. 1989. Autotrophic and heterotrophic production in the Mackenzie River/Beaufort Sea estuary. Polar Biology 9: 261-266.
63. Post, D. M. 2002. Using stable isotopes to estimate trophic position: models, methods, and assumptions. Ecology 83: 703-718.
64. Post, D. M., C. A. Layman, D. A. Arrington, G. Takimoto, J. Quattrochi, and C. G. Montana. 2007. Getting to the fat of the matter: models, methods and assumptions for dealing with lipids in stable isotope analyses. Oecologia 152: 179-189.
65. 2(aq)] in ocean surface water: data from a JGOFS site in the northeast Atlantic Ocean and a model. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 56: 1413-1419.
66. Raymond, P. A., J. W. McClelland, R. M. Holmes, A. V. Zhulidov, K. Mull, B. J. Peterson, R. G. Striegl, G. R. Aiken, and T. Y. Gurtovaya. 2007. Flux and age of dissolved organic carbon exported to the Arctic Ocean: a carbon isotopic study of the five largest arctic rivers. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 21: GB4011. doi: 4010. 1029/2007GB002934.
67. Riera, P., and P. Richard. 1999. Determination of food sources for benthic invertebrates in a salt marsh (Aiguillon Bay, France) by carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes: importance of locally produced surfaces. Marine Ecology Progress Series 187: 301-307.
68. Sandberg, J., A. Andersson, S. Johansson, and J. Wikner. 2004. Pelagic food web structure and carbon budget in the northern Baltic Sea: potential importance of terrigenous carbon. Marine Ecology Progress Series 268: 13-29.
69. Saupe, S. M., D. M. Schell, and W. B. Griffiths. 1989. Carbon-isotope ratio gradients in western arctic zooplankton. Marine Biology 103: 427-432.
70. Schell, D. M. 1983. Carbon-13 and carbon-14 abundances in Alaskan aquatic organisms: delayed production from peat in arctic food webs. Science 219: 1068-1071.
71. Schell, D., J. C. Zieman, D. M. Parrish, K. H. Dunton, and E. Brown. 1984. Foodweb and nutrient dynamics in nearshore Alaska Beaufort Sea waters. Environmental Assessment of the Alaskan Continental Shelf 25: 327-499.
72. 13C techniques. Marine Biology 103: 433-443.
73. Schell, D. M., B. A. Barnett, and K. A. Vinette. 1998. Carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in zooplankton of the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Marine Ecology Progress Series 162: 11-23.
74. Schneider, D. and H. Koch. 1979. Trophic relationships of the arctic shallow water marine ecosystem. Pages 503-542 in A. C. Broad et al. (eds). Environmental Assessment of Selected Habitats in the Beaufort and Chukchi Littoral System. Environmental Assessment of the Alaskan Continental Shelf, Annual Reports 3: 361-542.
75. Stroeve, J., A. Frei, J. McCreight, and D. Ghatak. 2008. Arctic sea-ice variability revisited. In: J. Jacka (eds). Annals of Glaciology 48: 71-81.
76. Trefry, J. H., R. D. Rember, R. P. Trocine, and J. S. Brown. 2003. Trace metals in sediments near offshore oil exploration and production sites in the Alaskan Arctic. Environmental Geology 45: 149-160.
77. Turner, T. F., M. L. Collyer, and T. J. Krabbenhoft. 2010. A general hypothesis-testing framework for stable isotope ratios in ecological studies. Ecology 91: 2227-2233.
78. Vander Zanden, M. J., and J. B. Rasmussen. 2001. Variation in delta N-15 and delta C-13 trophic fractionation: implications for aquatic food web studies. Limnology and Oceanography 46: 2061-2066.
79. von Biela, V. R., C. E. Zimmerman, and L. L. Moulton. 2011. Long-term increases in young-of-the year growth of Arctic cisco Coregonus autumnalis and environmental influences. Journal of Fish Biology 78: 39-56.
80. 13C abundances in the Antarctic Ocean with emphasis on the biogeochemical structure of the food web. Deep-Sea Research 34: 829-841.
81. Winston, J. E. 1977. Feeding in marine bryozoans. In Biology of Bryozoans, ed. R. M. Woollacott and R. L. Zimmer, 233-271. New York: Academic.