RELATIVELY NEGATIVE δ¹³C RATIOS OF MESOZOOPLANKTON IN THE SUNDAYS RIVER ESTUARY, COMMENTS ON POTENTIAL CARBON SOURCES

Summary

Mesozooplankton, submergent and fringing macrophytes and particles suspended in the water column in the Sundays River estuary South Africa were analyzed for δ¹³C isotope ratios. Highly negative values (−28.3‰ to −32.0‰) for the mesozooplankton species suggest the possibility of phytoplankton rather than detritus derived from macrophytes as carbon source.

Keywords:

• Stable isotopes
• δ¹³C
• zooplankton
• mysids
• copepods
• estuary
• foodweb