Feeding trials: Effects of diversity in feeding trials, conducted at Bodgea Marine Laboratory, using detritus from eelgrass (Zostera marina) genotypes (clones) as a food source and either one or a combination of invertebrate grazers

<p>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).</p> <p>Abstract:<br /> 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,&nbsp;<em>Ampithoe lacertosa</em>, an isopod<em>, Idotea resecata</em>, and a polychaete,&nbsp;<em>Platynereis bicanaliculata</em>. 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.&nbsp;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.</p> <p>These data are illustrated in figures 2 and 3 of the manuscript:<br /> 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.&nbsp;DOI:<a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.04471\" target=\"_blank\">10.1111/oik.04471</a></p>本研究通过一系列室内控制实验，探究了鳗草（eelgrass）遗传多样性与无脊椎动物（invertebrate）物种多样性对碎屑消费（detrital consumption）及动物存活率的影响。本数据集包含单个鳗草无性系（clone）的化学性状，以及各类牧食者（grazer）——等足类（isopods）、端足类（amphipods）、多毛类（polychaetes）——的摄食率。 摘要： 海草床（seagrass meadows）是全球生产力最高的生态系统之一，与多数其他生态系统类似，其遗传多样性与生产力提升呈显著正相关。然而，仅有极小部分海草生产物被直接摄食，绝大多数次级生产（secondary production）由碎屑食物网（detrital food web）支撑。本研究旨在解析植物基因型对碎屑消费的调控效应。实验选取3种常见中型牧食者（mesograzers）：端足类<em>Ampithoe lacertosa</em>、等足类<em>Idotea resecata</em>以及多毛类<em>Platynereis bicanaliculata</em>。结果显示，每种牧食者对鳗草碎屑的摄食率均高于其对鲜活鳗草或大型藻类的摄食率。但不同鳗草无性系脱落叶片的碎屑消费并非均匀分布：由于不同基因型在叶片质地、次生代谢产物（secondary metabolites，包括酚类（phenolics））及营养质量（氮含量，nitrogen）上存在特异性差异，牧食者的适口性与摄食率均存在显著变异。进一步研究发现，部分鳗草基因型产生的碎屑可被所有受试牧食者取食，而另一部分基因型的碎屑仅会被单一牧食物种优先摄食。 本数据集对应已录用待刊手稿中的图2与图3：Reynolds LK、KM Chan、E Huynh、SL Williams及JJ Stachowicz。论文题为《植物基因型及其多样性与中型牧食者物种多样性交互调控鳗草床碎屑消费》，DOI：10.1111/oik.04471。