TY - JOUR T1 - Trophic resource partitioning of two snook fish species (Centropomidae) in tropical estuaries in Brazil as evidenced by stable isotope analysis A1 - Guazzelli Gonzalez,Julio A1 - Ménard,Frédéric A1 - Le Loc'h,François A1 - Agrelli De Andrade,Humber A1 - Pontes Viana,Andréa A1 - Ferreira,Valdimere A1 - Frédou,Flávia Lucena A1 - Lira,Alex Souza A1 - Munaron,Jean-Marie A1 - Frédou,Thierry AD - Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, UFRPE, Departamento de Recursos Pesqueiros e Aquicultura, Rua Dom Manuel de Medeiros, s/n, Recife, PE. CEP: 52.171-900, Brazil AD - Aix Marseille Univ, Univ Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO, UM110, Marseille, France AD - IRD, Laboratoire des Sciences de L'Environnement Marin, UMR 6539, CNRS, UBO, IRD, Ifremer, 29280, Plouzané, France UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2019.106287 DO - 10.1016/j.ecss.2019.106287 KW - Brackish water fish KW - Trophic relationships KW - Carbon KW - Nitrogen KW - Centropomus N2 - We investigated the trophic niches and the resource partitioning of two snook species, the common (Centropomus undecimalis) and the fat snook (C. parallelus), in four tropical estuaries of the northeastern Brazil, using stable isotope analyses of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N). Fish specimens, mainly juveniles, basal resources and a primary consumer were collected in 2015 during dry and rainy seasons in all estuaries, which exhibited differences in system size, geomorphologic shapes, levels of sea access and anthropic pressures. Potential effect of factors like fish body length, estuary and seasonality on isotope ratios were investigated. Positive relationships between the size of fish and δ15N values were found, regardless the species. Our results indicated that snooks can be characterized as secondary consumers and have close trophic niches in most estuaries. Trophic overlaps were more pronounced within the largest estuaries (Catuama and Santa Cruz), whereas smaller systems that have restricted connections to the sea presented low isotopic niche overlap between both species (Suape and Sirinhaém). Moreover, a higher variability of δ13C and δ15N values in snooks was found in larger estuaries undergoing stronger influences from coastal adjacent waters. Although we were not able to detect clear seasonal effects, greater isotopic overlaps were found during the rainy season. Despite the lack of intrinsic differences in life history traits, both species, dominated by juveniles, shared similar trophic niches in these environments. Y1 - 2019/10 PB - Elsevier BV JF - Estuarine Coastal And Shelf Science SN - 0272-7714 VL - 226 ID - 61767 ER -