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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2020, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (1): 319-325.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.202001.034

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Food source and feeding habit of Helice tientsinensis from the common reed vegetation in high marsh of Yellow River Delta, China

LAN Si-qun1,2, ZHANG Li-wen2*, YI Hua-peng1, XU Chang-lin3, LU Feng4, FENG Guang-hai4, HAN Guang-xuan2   

  1. 1School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, Shandong, China;
    2CAS Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Yantai 264003, Shandong, China;
    3School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;
    4Administration Bureau of the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, Dongying 257091, Shandong, China
  • Received:2019-06-05 Online:2020-01-15 Published:2020-01-15
  • Contact: E-mail: lwzhang@yic.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31971504), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2018247) and the Shandong Province Forestry Science and Technology Innovation Project (LYCX07-2018-39).

Abstract: Investigating the composition of food sources with stable isotope method can provide direct evidence for the top-down control in the coastal wetland. In this study, we examined food source and feeding habit of Helice tientsinensis of common reed (Phragmites australis) vegetation in high marsh of Yellow River Delta. The results showed that the density of crab was (5.5±1.5) ind·m-2, with the behavior of climbing P. australis to feed on the leaves at night. Under the same indoor experimental condition, H. tientsinensis showed feeding preference on fresh leaves of P. aus-tralis. The stable isotope food source analysis showed that the leaves of P. australis were one of the important food sources of H. tientsinensis in the field. There were temporal variations in the proportion of fresh leaves [May: (6.4±4.9)%, July: (5.8±4.9)%, September: (12.5±8.8)%] and dead leaves [May: (12.4±7.8)%, July: (15.5±9.9)%, September: (15.1±9.4)%]. Therefore, H. tientsinensis could inhibit P. australis’s growth and affect litter decomposition through feeding disturbance behavior.