Dataset: Feeding Trials
Deployment: BML_Stachowicz

Feeding trials using detritus from eelgrass (Zostera marina) genotypes (clones) as a food source and either one or a combination of invertebrate grazers
Principal Investigator: 
John J. Stachowicz (University of California-Davis, UC Davis)
Co-Principal Investigator: 
Richard K. Grosberg (University of California-Davis, UC Davis)
Susan L. Williams (University of California-Davis, UC Davis-BML)
Contact: 
Laura K. Reynolds (University of Florida, UF)
BCO-DMO Data Manager: 
Shannon Rauch (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)
Current State: 
Final no updates expected
Version: 
15 September 2017
Version Date: 
2017-09-15
Description

In this project, we examined the effect of eelgrass genetic and invertebrate species diversity on detrital consumption and animal survival rates in a series of laboratory experiments. This dataset contains chemical traits for individual eelgrass clones and feeding rates for each grazer type (isopods, amphipods, polychaetes).

Abstract:
Seagrass meadows are among the world's most productive ecosystems, and as in many other systems, genetic diversity is correlated with increased production. However, only a small fraction of seagrass production is directly consumed, and instead much of the secondary production is fueled by the detrital food web. Here, we study how plant genotype influences detrital consumption. We used three common mesograzers—an amphipod, Ampithoe lacertosa, an isopod, Idotea resecata, and a polychaete, Platynereis bicanaliculata. Each grazer consumed eelgrass detritus at rates greater than live eelgrass or macroalgae. This detrital consumption, however, was not spread evenly over leaves shed from different eelgrass clones. Palatability and consumption varied because of genotype specific differences in leaf texture, secondary metabolites (phenolics), and nutritional quality (nitrogen). Further, detritus derived from some eelgrass genotypes was palatable to all grazers, while detritus from other genotypes was preferentially consumed by only one grazer species.

These data are illustrated in figures 2 and 3 of the manuscript:
Reynolds LK, KM Chan, E Huynh, SL Williams, and JJ Stachowicz (in press) Plant genotype indentity and diversity interact with mesograzer species diversity to influence detrital consumption in eelgrass meadows. DOI:10.1111/oik.04471

More information about this dataset deployment