Preliminary trophic structure model for Tampamachoco lagoon, Veracruz, Mexico

doi:10.1016/S0304-3800(98)00011-8

Ecological Modelling

Volume 109, Issue 2, 11 June 1998, Pages 141-154

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3800(98)00011-8 Get rights and content

Abstract

A preliminary quantitative model of the trophic structure in Tampamachoco lagoon was obtained using Ecopath II and data from relevant studies to date in the area. This is a detritus-based ecosystem. The most important first-level consumers are meiofauna, with an energy flow of 57.8 g m⁻² year⁻¹ of dry weight (dw), followed by zooplankton with a flow of 15.7, white mullet with 9.5, and oysters with 7.5 g m⁻² year⁻¹ dw. Meiofauna acts as the principal link to higher trophic levels. White mullet and oyster represent most of the biomass (92%) that is subject to commercial fishery. Crustaceans are the most important secondary consumer group with a biomass flow of 12.8 g m⁻² year⁻¹ dw. Shrimp, anchovy, and goby are frequent prey of the principal predators in the system. Catfish, snook, croaker, and portunid crabs are the most important third and fourth level consumers. Commercial fishery plays a secondary consumer role with a mean trophic level of 3.08 and with efficiency relative to the primary productivity of 0.0087, which is high compared to other tropical fisheries based on top predators.

Introduction

Estuaries and coastal lagoons are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, with a net primary production between 200 and 3500 g m⁻² year⁻¹ dry weight (dw), comparable to the level of human agrosystems and tropical rain forests (Whittaker, 1975 in Begon et al., 1987). In Mexico, over 100 coastal lagoon ecosystems exist along the almost 10 000 km of shore. The lagoons are of great economic and ecological importance to inshore fisheries as nurseries and protected areas where numerous species spend part of their biological cycles (Ruı́z-Durá, 1985).

Tampamachoco lagoon is a small estuary in the west central Gulf of Mexico, with 1500 ha area (Fig. 1), and is one of the most studied estuarine ecosystems in Mexico.

Previous work has generated an extensive biological data base which allows us to model the trophic structure dynamics of the lagoon using the Ecopath software system (Polovina and Ow, 1985, Christensen and Pauly, 1992b), designed for the straightforward construction and parameterization of steady-state trophic models in aquatic ecosystems.

The objectives of this work were (1) to estimate the biomass flow through the components of the community, and (2) to evaluate the role of the fisheries in this context.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The data used in this work come from published information, supplemented with unpublished reports obtained through personal communication with the researchers involved.

The following data were used to feed Ecopath II:

1.
Nekton and macrobenthos abundance data, fish stomach contents and size distribution of the oyster banks in the lagoon, from E.N.C.B. and E.S.I.A. (1986).
2.
Fishery catch data of Tampamachoco lagoon obtained from catch reports of the local Fisheries Bureau.
3.
Biometrics sampling data of

Results and discussion

Table 4 shows basic input and output parameters (in brackets) estimated by Ecopath for the system. About half of the parameters were introduced as unknown quantities due to the scarcity of original estimates and published data. Some species appear as zero catch although in fact there could be some occasional catch not officially recorded.

Some output data seem to be overestimated. Such is the case of the P/B values for anchovy and spadefish which showed values of 4.9 and 4.4, respectively.

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to Marco A. Pérez and Moisés Chávez for their courtesy in supplying unpublished data from their research projects. Likewise, we thanks Drs Francisco Contreras, Francisco Arreguı́n-Sanchez, Martha Signoret, and Villy Christensen for documents and comments. We are particularly grateful for the criticism and many helpful comments of anonymous referees. The English version of the manuscript was kindly checked by Dr Ellis Glazier, CIBNOR and Dr Georganne Weller.

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Ecological Modelling

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Acknowledgements

References (49)

Ecopath II software for balancing steady-state models and calculating network characteristics

Ecol. Model.

Immunological dietary analysis of two peneid shrimp species from a South Carolina tidal creek

J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol.

Contribución al conocimiento de la biologı́a de los robalos, chucumite y constantino (Centropomus spp.) del Estado de Veracruz (Pisces:Centropomidae)

Ciencia

Estudios hidrobiológicos en lagunas costeras

Ciencia

Bacterial mediation in the utilization of carbon and nitrogen from detrital complexes by Crassostrea virginica

Limnol. Oceanogr.

Use of detrital foods and assimilation of nitrogen by coastal detritivores

Estuaries

Stable isotopes and cellulase activity as evidence for detritus as food source for juvenile Gulf menhaden

Estuaries

Dynamics of microphytobenthos biomass in the Ems estuary

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

Temporal biomass variability and production/biomass relationships of seagrass communities

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

Diatomaceas no conteudo estomacal de Mugil curema Valenciennes 1836 e Mugil liza Valenciennes 1836 (Pisces: Mugilidae)

Trab. Oceanogr. Univ. Fed. Pernambuco.

Studies on the decomposition of organic detritus from the turtle grass Thalassia testudinum

Limnol. Oceanogr.

Cited by (28)

Trophic resource partitioning of two snook fish species (Centropomidae) in tropical estuaries in Brazil as evidenced by stable isotope analysis

An original model of the northern Gulf of Mexico using Ecopath with Ecosim and its implications for the effects of fishing on ecosystem structure and maturity

Meta-analysis of Ecopath models reveals secondary productivity patterns across the Gulf of Mexico

Meiofauna as Consumers in Coastal Food Webs

Ecopath Theory, Modeling, and Application to Coastal Ecosystems

Trophic models in Neotropical reservoirs: Testing hypotheses on the relationship between aging and maturity