Network analysis and inter-ecosystem comparison of two intertidal mudflat food webs (Brouage Mudflat and Aiguillon Cove, SW France)
Résumé
Network analysis was used to analyse steady-state models of the food webs of two intertidal mudflat ecosystems: Aiguillon Cove and Brouage Mudflat, on the South-Western Atlantic Coast of France. The aim was to highlight emergent properties of food-web functioning in these two ecosystems and to compare these properties with other coastal ecosystems. Both ecosystems imported detritus in parallel to a high benthic primary production. They were characterised by a high diversity of resources. Both also exported living material, leading to a high quality production, quantified as export of Exergy. This export was mainly composed of cultivated bivalves during the cold season for Brouage Mudflat, and of the migration of grazing fish in Aiguillon Cove during the warm season. Their internal organization was characterised by short pathways, high recycling, high redundancy and low net ecosystem production, compared to the other systems selected. These characteristics, encountered in many estuaries, presented less extreme values. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Mots clés
food web
ecosystem function
France
inverse analysis
network analysis
coastal zone
intertidal environment
mudflat
primary production
detritus
Europe
Atlantic coast
Atlantic Coast [Europe]
Atlantic Coast [France]
Eurasia
Western Europe
bivalve
Bivalvia
ecosystem comparison
intertidal mudflat
net ecosystem production
steady-state equilibrium