Data from: Complementarity in spatial subsidies of carbon associated with resource partitioning along multiple niche axes

Data support analyses describing the potential for niche
partitioning and complementarity in a guild of suspension-feeding rocky
shore invertebrates. I focused on the mussels Perna canaliculus, Mytilus
galloprovincialis, Aulacomya maoriana, and Xenostrobus pulex, all of which
coexist along the coastline of the South Island of New Zealand. I
quantified the mussel species’ distributions, both vertically on the shore
and within the three-dimensional mussel bed matrix, and used carbon
(delta13C) and nitrogen (delta15N) stable isotope ratios to compare
species’ diets. Mussels exhibited niche partitioning along all resource
axes, including patterns of tide-height zonation, depth in the mussel bed,
and diet. Given the mussels’ use of different spatial and food resources,
I evaluated the potential for complementarity with respect to mussels’
roles as mediators of carbon inputs into rocky-shore ecosystems. In these
systems, mussels are basal species, capturing and consuming particulate
organic matter in the nearshore ocean and making it available for local
consumption within the benthic community. I found that mussels accumulated
appreciable amounts of carbon via growth and that even the most productive
species – Perna canaliculus – only contributed about half of the
mussel-mediated carbon that accumulated over a year.