Structure and Functioning of the Benthic Communities in the Extreme
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Structure and functioning of the benthic communities in the extreme dynamic intertidal mudflats along the Guianas coasts : trophic fate of the infauna Thanh Hien Nguyen To cite this version: Thanh Hien Nguyen. Structure and functioning of the benthic communities in the extreme dynamic intertidal mudflats along the Guianas coasts : trophic fate of the infauna. Ecosystems. Université de La Rochelle, 2018. English. NNT : 2018LAROS009. tel-02009850 HAL Id: tel-02009850 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02009850 Submitted on 6 Feb 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONING OF THE BENTHIC COMMUNITIES IN THE EXTREME DYNAMIC INTERTIDAL MUDFLATS ALONG THE GUIANAS COASTS: TROPHIC FATE OF THE INFAUNA Nguyen Thanh Hien 13 FEVRIER 2018 UNIVERSITY OF LA ROCHELLE Laboratoire Littoral, Environnement et SociétéS i UNIVERSITÉ DE LA ROCHELLE ÉCOLE DOCTORALE GAY LUSSAC Laboratoire Littoral, Environnement et SociétéS Thèse présentée par Thanh-Hien NGUYEN 13 February 2018 pour obtenir le grade de : Docteur de l’Université de La Rochelle Spécialité : Biologie de l’environnement, des populations, écologie STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONING OF THE BENTHIC COMMUNITIES IN THE EXTREME DYNAMIC INTERTIDAL MUDFLATS ALONG THE GUIANAS COASTS: TROPHIC FATE OF THE INFAUNA JURY: Tom MOENS Professeur, Ghent University, Belgium, Reviewer Eric THIEBAUT Professeur, University Pierre & Marie Curie, Reviewer Emmanuelle GESLIN Professeur, Université d'Angers, Examiner Olivier MAIRE Maître de Conférences, Université de Bordeaux, Examiner Christine DUPUY Professeur, Université de La Rochelle, Director of the thesis Pierrick BOCHER Maître de conférences (HDR), Université de La Rochelle, Co-supervisor Christel LEFRANCOIS Maître de conférences (HDR), Université de La Rochelle, Co- supervisor ii iii Acknowledgements The elaboration of this thesis would not have been possible without the supervision, collaboration and encouragement of many people to whom I would like to express my sincerest thanks. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Christine Dupuy, Dr. Pierrick Bocher and Dr. Christel Lefrancois, for their continued support and contributions towards the compilation of this thesis and the work within it. Especially, Christine, you were always there for me, whether I needed to discuss data, papers, or my personal life, and listened to, and supported me throughout. Words could never be enough to express my gratitude. Secondly, I would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH), who granted me a scholarship to pursue my PhD study. I am also grateful to my host institutions, LIENSs and University of La Rochelle, for kindly providing such a friendly working environment and for all the facilities needed for my thesis. My special thanks also go to my husband for supporting every choice I have ever made. Thanks for helping me in many crucial points in my life, when I was about to give up, especially for your willingness to take care of our little son, therefore, I could totally focus on my study in France. For sure, you have endured having a PhD wife. Thank you for your patience, particularly, your trust in me through the three consecutive years I was living far away from home. For this and much more I will always be grateful to you. I also want to thank to Jérôme Jourde for his invaluable guidance in macrofauna taxonomy and to Hélène Agogué for provided me great support and assistance during the “battle” with tiny specimens for molecular analyses. And to all the enthusiastic people who carried endless buckets of mud, your help was very much appreciated: Pierre-Yves Pascal, Celine Paris, Tony Bui, Antoine Gardel and, of course, Thierry Guyot for the map. Extra thanks go to Alexandre Carpentier for his expertise on trophic linkages. Finally, to my friends who have come through these last few years with me, I would like to say thank you for your encouragement. Thanks to Mathilde, Benoit, Cyril, Anouk, Yann, Eva and Katherine for sharing with me so many great moments. You all made my days in La Rochelle the best. iv v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. iv CHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 1.1. Mechanisms structuring ecological communities..................................................................... 3 1.2. Trophic structure and feeding relationships in ecological communities ................................... 4 1.3. Ecological functioning in the view of trophic linkages ........................................................... 6 1.4. Ecological communities associated with the intertidal mudflats ............................................ 10 1.5. The context of the thesis: Dynamics of the Guianas mudbanks .............................................. 16 Rationale and thesis layout ................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2: AN OVERVIEW OF BENTHIC COMMUNITIES INHABITING MUDFLAT HABITAT ALONG THE GUIANAS COAST ............................................................................... 23 Paper 1. Macrofauna along the Guianas coast ................................................................................ 27 Paper 2. Meiofauna along the Guianas coast .................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER 3: FACTORS STRUCTURING THE BENTHIC COMMUNITIES IN FRENCH GUIANA MUDFLAT .................................................................................................... 53 Paper 3. Dynamics of the Tanaidacea ............................................................................................ 57 Paper 4. Dynamics of the meiofauna ............................................................................................. 73 CHAPTER 4: TROPHIC LINKAGES AND CONCEPTUAL MODELOF INTERTIDAL FOOD WEB IN THE FRENCH GUIANA MUDFLATS ............................................................ 105 Paper 5. Ecological functioning of the benthic communities in the view of trophic linkages ......... 109 CHAPTER 5: GENERAL DISCUSSION, GENERAL CONCLUSIONS, PERSPECTIVES ......................................................................................................................... 139 General discussion ...................................................................................................................... 141 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................ 148 Perspectives ................................................................................................................................ 150 REFERENCES USED IN CHAPTER 1 & CHAPTER 5 ............................................................ 151 vi 0 CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 2 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.1. Mechanisms structuring ecological communities Generally, an ecological community is defined as naturally occurring group of species that are interacting in a unique habitat (Purves et al., 2004). This community is bound together by the network of influences that species have on each other and by the physical characteristics of the environment they inhabit. In intertidal flats, community structure have been long found to be regulated by sets of abiotic variables such as grain size, oxygen concentration, salinity, temperature, etc., to which the species in the community may respond differently (Warwick & Clarke, 1991; Coull, 1999; Lu et al., 2008; Schweiger et al., 2008). Particularly, the greater magnitude fluctuation of physical parameters in intertidal mudflats can put higher stress on the organisms inhabiting these areas (Woodin, 1974). Likewise, community structure is also massively influenced by the various biotic interactions, which mainly involve food availability and interconnections between species (Woodin & Jackson, 1979; Buffan-Dubau & Carman, 2000) (Fig. 1.1.). Figure 1.1. An example of abiotic and biotic parameters governing intertidal ecosystem 3 Within a community, organisms can interact with each other in varieties of ways, in which competition and predation are believed to strongly affect community dynamics and composition (Coneil, 1961a; Wilson, 1991; Hiltunen & Laakso, 2013). Competition occurs when the interactions between organisms result in a reduction of growth, survival or reproduction for both partners of the interactions (each species affected negatively). It commonly involves the use of a limiting resource (Schoener, 1974) (e.g. food, water, light, shelter, nesting site…) and can occur between individuals of the same species/population (intraspecific competition) as well as between individuals from different species/populations (interspecific competition). For example, competition for space among algae and sessile invertebrates is prevalent