Research Progress of the Transfer Process of Organic Carbon Through Food Chain in Seagrass Bed

Seagrass beds are highly productive coastal ecosystems, which provide good nursery habitat and abundant Organic Carbon Sources (OCS) as food for marine animals. Human activities have led to widespread eutrophication in coastal areas. Eutrophication may alter the composition and properties of OCS, thereby affecting the feeding process of herbivores and secondary consumer, and energy transfer efficiency in food chain. This may affect the production function of biological resource in seagrass beds. Based on the summary of the foreign and domestic researches, primary achievements were systematically reviewed in this paper in five aspects: the composition of OCS and their contribution, feeding process of herbivore, food web structure and energy transfer efficiency, and their responses to eutrophication. Future researches that should be emphasized were also prospected. With the combined application of stable isotope analysis for bulks and tissues, fatty acid biomarkers and compound-specific stable isotope analysis, the quantitative study of the contribution of OCS, food web structure, key carbon flow pathway and their seasonal change patterns should be enhanced. Meanwhile, the differences of OCS between larval and adult stages of key consumers will need to be further examined to clarify the transformation of their feeding habits. Through field investigation, in-situ mesocosm and laboratory simulation experiments, the effects of nutrient increase on the structure (seagrass and epiphyte, etc.) and chemical composition (nutritional quality and secondary compounds, etc.) of OCS, the response of feeding process of herbivore and secondary consumer to the alteration of chemical compounds in primary producers, and the response mechanism of carbon transfer efficiency of the grazing food chain and detritus food chain need to be further studied.