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2015 Puget Sound Factbook Book | v3.0
ii.
iii.
Prickly sculpin (Cottus asper)
Threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)
15. Major food sources for fish in tidal marsh ecosystems include:
a. Amphipods (especially Americorophium spp.)
b. Harpacticoid copepods
c. Emergent insects (adults, pupae, and larvae; Dolichopodidae, Chironomidae,
Ceratopogonidae, and Ephydridae)
d. Terrestrial insects (Hemiptera)
e. Mysid shrimp (Neomysis mercedis)
f. Isopods (Gnorimosphaeroma oregonensis)
g. Flatfish larvae
h. Cumaceans
i. Oligochaetes
j. Polychaetes
k. Decapod larvae (crabs and shrimp)
*Epibenthic crustaceans are particularly important contributors to fish diets. (Seliskar &
Gallagher, 1983; Levy et al., 1979; Northcote et al., 1979; Northcote et al., 1981; David et al.,
2014)
16. Restoration efforts that have restored tidal flow to estuarine wetland ecoystems (i.e.
Nisqually, Skagit, and Skokomish) via dike removals or breaches have rapidly restored
ecological attributes associated with detritus-based food webs, including ecosystem capacity
to support higher densities of organisms, and ecosystem connectivity in terms of sources of
detritus (David et al., 2014; Howe & Simenstad, 2014; Greene and Beamer, 2011).
17. The importance of detritus based food web pathways differs among ecosystem types. Six
primary (75-100% of total index of relative importance) direct pathways have been identified
between detritus and upper trophic levels in rocky intertidal habitats. Five primary pathways
have been identified in cobble littoral habitats, four primary pathways for exposed gravelcobble
habitats, and five for protected sand-eelgrass ecosystems, and four for protected
mud/eelgrass systems (Simenstad et al., 1979).
18. Detritus-based food webs link terrestrial, estuarine, and marine ecosystems through energy
flow (Romanuk and Levings 2005, Tallis 2009, Howe & Simenstad 2015). Detrital food webs
in the estuary of large river systems reflect an integrated “bouillabaisse” of many types of
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