title: A comparison of blue crab and bivalve delta15N tissue enrichment in two North Carolina estuaries.
abstract: Stable isotope analyses (delta(15)N) were used to examine invertebrate tissue enrichment in two North Carolina estuaries with differing amounts of nutrient loading. Bivalves collected from a nutrient sensitive estuary yielded a significant difference in mean nitrogen isotopic composition of tissue (10.4 per thousand+/-0.82; N=66) compared to bivalves collected from a less nutrient sensitive estuary (6.4 per thousand+/-0.63; N=45). Similarly, blue crabs from nutrient sensitive sites had a nitrogen isotopic composition of 11.4 per thousand (+/-1.3, N=77), which was significantly different (P<0.001) than the tissue of less nutrient sensitive blue crabs (9.6 per thousand+/-0.6; N=77). The results showed that an inverse relationship exists between invertebrate tissue enrichment and indicators of water quality across estuarine sites. This study suggests that a relationship may exist between nutrient sources and subsequent energy transfer to estuarine consumers in two North Carolina estuaries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA. jpbucci@ncsu.edu
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bucci
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rebach
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: DeMaster
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Showers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000378:metabolism*; D049628:Body Size; D003386:Brachyura / Q000378:metabolism*; D049874:Corbicula / Q000378:metabolism; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D009657:North Carolina; D045483:Rivers; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical