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Role of fish communities in particulate organic matter fluxes between salt marshes and coastal marine waters in the Mont Saint-Michel Bay

  • Conference paper
Oceans, Rivers and Lakes: Energy and Substance Transfers at Interfaces

Part of the book series: Developments in Hydrobiology ((DIHY,volume 131))

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Abstract

Among the 90 fishspecies censused in the Mont Saint-Michel Bay (France), 23 colonise and forage in the salt marshes during flood. Therefore, this environment may play an important trophic and nursery role for these species. This community is largely dominated by mullets (81% of the biomass), Liza ramada and secondarily L. aurata. But gobies (mainly Pomatoschistus minutus and P. lozanoï) and sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) are also present; they represent respectively 11% and 4% of the biomass. During the tide cycles, mullets export from salt marshes about 7% of their body weight (FW) containing a mixture of sediment (43%), organic matter (24%) and water (33%). Gobies and sea bass mainly feed on dwelling macro-invertebrates, and they export respectively 4.5% and 10% of their body weight during a tide cycle. Thus, we estimated that 50 tonnes year− of particulate organic matter (dry weight POM) are exported from the 4000 ha of salt marshes to the marine coastal waters. These fish communities appear to be POM transporters and could play a significant role in the global energy budgets of coastal environments such as Mont Saint-Michel Bay. According to the seasons and the years, the energy exported by fish communities is assumed to range between 0 and 10% of the total POM output.

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Author notes

  1. Sébastien Brosse

    Present address: CESAC, Laboratoire d’Hydrobiologie, Bat. 4R3, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, 31000, Toulouse, France

  2. Aurore Baisez

    Present address: Division Ressources Aquatiques Continentales, CEMAGREF Bordeaux, 50 avenue de Verdun, 33612, Cestas Cedex, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.M.R. ECOBIO Laboratoire d’Evolution des Systèmes Naturels et Modifiés, M.N.H.N, Université de Rennes I, Avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042, Rennes Cedex, France

    Pascal Laffaille, Eric Feunteun & Jean-Claude Lefeuvre

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  1. Pascal Laffaille
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  2. Sébastien Brosse
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  3. Eric Feunteun
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  4. Aurore Baisez
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  5. Jean-Claude Lefeuvre
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J.-C. Amiard B. Le Rouzic B. Berthet G. Bertru

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Laffaille, P., Brosse, S., Feunteun, E., Baisez, A., Lefeuvre, JC. (1998). Role of fish communities in particulate organic matter fluxes between salt marshes and coastal marine waters in the Mont Saint-Michel Bay. In: Amiard, JC., Le Rouzic, B., Berthet, B., Bertru, G. (eds) Oceans, Rivers and Lakes: Energy and Substance Transfers at Interfaces. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 131. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5266-2_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5266-2_10

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