Top-down Control by Ribbed Mussels (Geukensia demissa) on Plankton Communities in Southeastern U.S. Salt Marshes

Details

• Journal Title:
  Estuaries and Coasts
• Personal Author:
  Campbell, Brendan ; Gray, Matthew W.
• NOAA Program & Office:
  Sea Grant
• Sea Grant Program:
  GAUS (Georgia Sea Grant)
• Description:
  Benthic grazers and suspension feeders, such as oysters and mussels, may play a disproportionate role in controlling algal biomass and plankton community composition in estuarine systems. Nonetheless, their effects on plankton communities remain poorly understood across environmental contexts, in part from a paucity of in situ measurements. Here, we conducted in situ manipulative field experiments to evaluate the effects of the Atlantic ribbed mussel, Geukensia demissa, on bulk chlorophyll a; absolute cell abundance of plankton groups > 10 μm in diameter (pennate and centric diatoms, dinoflagellates, and heterotrophic nano- and microzooplankton); and relative cell abundance of plankton trophic levels across three salt marsh sites in the southeastern U.S. (Georgia and Florida).
• Keywords:
  • Ribbed mussels
  • Geukensia demissa
  • Top-down control
  • Benthic-pelagic coupling
• Source:
  Estuaries and Coasts 49, 37 (2026)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-025-01635-9
• Format:
  PDF
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  Grant no. NA20NOS4200119
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; Florida
• License:
  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Rights Information:
  CC BY
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/74067/noaa_74067_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.89 MB]
• Collection(s):
  Sea Grant Publications
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:902756644923f8fce90c33d704f67946991ea26f57cf159033c4456c6150e713aa8793a1d6fbb3a5a0d46db00e8bbd51139b3dffdb94f600d02e07db71d78ce4