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Trophic niche of the invasive gregarious species Crepidula fornicata, in relation to ontogenic changes

View ORCID ProfileThibault Androuin, View ORCID ProfileStanislas F. Dubois, View ORCID ProfileCédric Hubas, Gwendoline Lefebvre, Fabienne Le Grand, View ORCID ProfileGauthier Schaal, View ORCID ProfileAntoine Carlier
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.30.229021
Thibault Androuin
1ISMER, UQAR, Rimouski, Canada
2IFREMER, DYNECO-LEBCO, Technopole Brest-Iroise, CS10070, Plouzané, France
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  • For correspondence: thibault.androuin01@gmail.com
Stanislas F. Dubois
2IFREMER, DYNECO-LEBCO, Technopole Brest-Iroise, CS10070, Plouzané, France
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Cédric Hubas
3UMR BOREA, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Concarneau, France
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Gwendoline Lefebvre
4UMR CNRS 6539, LEMAR-IUEM-UBO, Plouzané, France
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Fabienne Le Grand
4UMR CNRS 6539, LEMAR-IUEM-UBO, Plouzané, France
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Gauthier Schaal
4UMR CNRS 6539, LEMAR-IUEM-UBO, Plouzané, France
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Antoine Carlier
2IFREMER, DYNECO-LEBCO, Technopole Brest-Iroise, CS10070, Plouzané, France
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Abstract

Crepidula fornicata is a common and widespread invasive gregarious species along the European coast. Among its life-history traits, well documented ontogenic changes in behavior (i.e., motile male to sessile female) suggest a potential shift in feeding strategy across its life stages. Considering the ecological significance of this species in colonized areas, understanding how conspecifics share the trophic resource is crucial. Using fatty acids (FA) and stable isotopes (SI) as complementary trophic markers, we conducted a field survey between late winter and spring to investigate the trophic niche of three ontogenic stages of C. fornicata that bear different sexual (male/female) and motility (motile/sessile) traits. Potential trophic sources were characterized by their pigment, FA and SI compositions and showed well discriminated compositions over the studied period. We showed that the biofilm covering C. fornicata shells harbored a higher biomass of primary producers (i.e., chlorophytes and diatoms) than the surrounding sediment. Over the studied period, we observed a covariation between the three ontogenic stages for both FA and SI compositions which suggest that the trophic niche of C. fornicata does not change significantly across its benthic life. During periods of low food availability, slipper limpets displayed an opportunistic suspension-feeding behaviour, relying on both fresh and detrital organic matter, likely coming from superficial sedimentary organic matter. However, during high food availability (i.e., spring phytoplankton bloom), all ontogenic stages largely benefited from this fresh supply of organic matter (pelagic diatoms in this case). The three ontogenic stages showed consistent differences in FA composition, and to a lesser extent in SI composition. These differences persist over time, as they originate from ontogenic physiological changes (differential growth rates, metabolic rate or gametogenesis) rather than diet discrepancies. This study revealed that multiple trophic markers allow high complementary to characterize organic matter as well as food partitioning between conspecific organisms.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted July 31, 2020.
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Trophic niche of the invasive gregarious species Crepidula fornicata, in relation to ontogenic changes
Thibault Androuin, Stanislas F. Dubois, Cédric Hubas, Gwendoline Lefebvre, Fabienne Le Grand, Gauthier Schaal, Antoine Carlier
bioRxiv 2020.07.30.229021; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.30.229021
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Trophic niche of the invasive gregarious species Crepidula fornicata, in relation to ontogenic changes
Thibault Androuin, Stanislas F. Dubois, Cédric Hubas, Gwendoline Lefebvre, Fabienne Le Grand, Gauthier Schaal, Antoine Carlier
bioRxiv 2020.07.30.229021; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.30.229021

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