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Stable Isotope and Biochemical Composition of White Perch in a Phragmites Dominated Salt Marsh and Adjacent Waters

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Abstract

Tissue stable isotopes and biochemical condition were compared in two populations of white perch, Morone americana, residing in a Phragmites australis-dominated tidal salt marsh and adjacent open waters of Haverstraw Bay, in the Hudson River estuary, USA. As reported previously for other taxa in this system, stable isotope composition of M. americana was influenced by the dominant vegetation present, in this case a near monoculture of P. australis and other C3 vegetation, mainly deciduous trees, that lined the immediate upland shoreline of the marsh. However, all three stable isotopes, δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S, differed significantly between the two populations, with all three parameters displaying enrichment in the open water collections. Both fish populations exhibited the expected allometric relationships among mass components (total protein, total lipids, dry weight) but energy reserves in the form of triacylglycerols and total lipids were significantly greater in the Haverstraw Bay population. These results were interpreted to not only be a function of fish size but also to originate from differences in habitat quality at the two locations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Sobotka for assistance in the laboratory, and P. Rowe, A. Avizius, and S. Strauss for their help in the field. This study was supported by United States Environmental Protection Agency, grant no. X7-97280601, and is posted as contribution # ISS 2010-0025, Institute for Sustainability Studies, Montclair State University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies, Montclair State University, 1 Normal Avenue, Mallory Hall, 116E, Montclair, NJ, 07043, USA

    Michael P. Weinstein

  2. Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, Oceanview Boulevard, Pacific Grove, CA, 93950-3094, USA

    Steven Y. Litvin

  3. Howard Laboratory, NEFSC, NOAA/NMFS, 74 Magruder Rd., Highlands, NJ, 07732, USA

    Vincent G. Guida

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  1. Michael P. Weinstein
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  2. Steven Y. Litvin
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  3. Vincent G. Guida
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Correspondence to Michael P. Weinstein.

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Weinstein, M.P., Litvin, S.Y. & Guida, V.G. Stable Isotope and Biochemical Composition of White Perch in a Phragmites Dominated Salt Marsh and Adjacent Waters. Wetlands 30, 1181–1191 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-010-0102-2

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