Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 2015, 7, 1473-1482
Published Online December 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jwarp
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jwarp.2015.717121

Transverse Variation of Food Compositionsof Corbicula bivalves in a Tidal River with
Series of Groins
Nannan Li1, Takashi Tashiro2*, Tetsuro Tsujimoto3
1

Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya City, Japan
Disaster Mitigation Research Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya City, Japan
3
Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya City, Japan
2

Received 23 November 2015; accepted 19 December 2015; published 22 December 2015
Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Abstract
This study was conducted to clarify the food compositions of Corbicula bivalves (C. japonica andleana) in tidal rivers with varied landscapes. In order to grasp their trophic structures, we measured the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of the collected samples such as the bivalves
with varied growth stages and the suspended particulate organic matters (SPOMs) with varied
landscapes as their food sources, and then analyzed their relationships with IsoSource mixing
model software. The stable isotope ratio measurements clarified that there was a large differencein the ranges of C. japonica and leana in spite of the same sampling locations, and the IsoSource
analysis could quantitatively describe their food compositions. According to the results, it could beclarified that the variations in food compositions were dependent not only on the species difference but also on their growth stages. Furthermore, it might suggest that their diet preferences affected the spatial distributions of these Corbicula bivalves in this location.

Keywords
Corbicula bivalves, River Estuary, Food Source, IsoSource Mixing Model Software, Stable Isotope

1. Introduction
Estuarine zone provides nursery grounds for benthic organisms. Especially, suspended feeding bivalves as akind of important benthic organism exhibit higher density populations and extremely larger standing stocks of*Corresponding author.

How to cite this paper: Li, N., Tashiro, T. and Tsujimoto, T. (2015) Transverse Variation of Food Compositions of Corbicula
bivalves in a Tidal River with Series of Groins. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 7, 1473-1482.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jwarp.2015.717121

N. Li et al.

biomass compare other common members in estuarine ecosystem [1]. Among various bivalves, Corbicula japonica and leana as the two of three native Corbicula species have been widely recognized in Japan [2]. C. japonica is commonly found in brackish rivers or lakes, while C. leana is considered as a freshwater species, and it
is reported that the landing of Corbicula species has been decreased [3] [4]. Due to their filter feeding, the nitrogen load from upstream emissions and leaching could be reduced by around 10.7% [5]. Hence, there aremany conventional studies to be treated ecologies and habitat environments of these Corbicula species, in order
to conserve their population in estuary environments.
Conventionally, many of the related works have been developed in brackish lakes. Regarding the food sources
aspect, the works in brackish lakes (Ogawara and Shinji) showed that these bivalves mainly assimilated autochthonous phytoplankton with their high productivities [3]. However, Kasai and Nakata [6] indicated that C. japonica in river estuary mainly feed on the terrestrial organic matters by using the measurements of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. And Yamazaki et al. [2] suggested that the C. japonica might shift the habitat indifferent growth stages. However, there are few reports to compare these two Corbicula species in their foodcompositions in the same location, and it is also uncertain whether both of them shift food sources with theirgrowing.
The Kiso estuary is one of the most productive for the Corbicula fishery in Japan [2] [3]. The environments in
Kiso estuary are characterized by the complex variations in landscapes because of their series of groins longitudinally installed along the one side of the bank [7]. Therefore, in present study, according to measure the stable
isotope signatures of C. japonica and leana in Kiso estuary, we conduct to clarify the compositions of their foodsources along a transverse direction with varied landscapes.

2. Material and Method
2.1. Field Investigation
Samples were collected from the Kiso estuary which empties in to the Ise Bay of Japan. In the Kiso estuary, aseries of groins has been installed along the right bank in the sections located at 12 - 25 river kilometer (R km)
from the river mouth since the Meiji era, which has functioned to control the flood flow and to produce diverse
landscapes. As the result, embayments have been formed between two adjacent groins due to sediment accumulation and vegetation invasion.
We set three stations along transverse direction in the subtidal zone of Kiso estuary as follows: St. Right (St.
R), St. Middle (St. M) and St. Left (St. L) were respectively located at the right bank side (with groins), thethalweg zone and the left bank side (without groins) in the cross-section of 17 R km (Figure 1 and Figure 2).
The details of the sampling designs are listed in Table 1. Potential food sources (SPOMs) were not only collected from 17 R km but also from its upstream (St. U1, U2, U3 and U4) and downstream (St. D1 and D2) area
(Table 1).

Figure 1. Study locations of Kiso River estuary in Japan.

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N. Li et al.

Figure 2. Photographs of sampling stations in typical landscapes. (Upper left: St. R, upper right:
St. L, lower left: St. M and lower right: St. D2).
Table 1. Details of sampling designs.
Site

Features

St. R

Marge, groins

St. L

St. M

Marge, boatslip

Thalweg, bar

Items

MethodSampling date

Chlorophyll a and salinity

Logging in situ

2012/11/1-11/15

Ash free dry mass, carbon and nitrogen(CN) stable isotope ratio of SPOMs

Analyzing in vivo

2012/11/14

Density, size composition, CN stable
isotope ratio of Corbicula bivalves

Analyzing in vivo

2012/11/14

Ash free dry mass, carbon and nitrogen(CN) stable isotope ratio of SPOMs

Analyzing in vivo

2012/11/14

Density, size composition, CN stable
isotope ratio of Corbicula bivalves

Analyzing in vivo

2012/11/14

St. U1Marge, groins,vegetation

Chlorophyll a and salinity

Logging in situ

2012/11/1-11/15

St. U2

Thalweg

Ash free dry mass, carbon and nitrogen(CN) stable isotope ratio of SPOMs

Analyzing in vivo

2012/10/4

St. U3Marge, boatslip

Ash free dry mass, carbon and nitrogen(CN) stable isotope ratio of SPOMs

Analyzing in vivo

2012/10/4

St. U4Marge,
vegetation

Ash free dry mass, carbon and nitrogen(CN) stable isotope ratio of SPOMs

Analyzing in vivo

2012/6/7

St. D1Marge, groins

Chlorophyll a and salinity

Logging in situ

2012/11/1-11/15

St. D2Marge,
vegetation

Ash free dry mass, carbon and nitrogen(CN) stable isotope ratio of SPOMs

Analyzing in vivo

2012/11/1

Location(river km)

17.0

20.0

24.0

12.0

The salinity, chlorophyll a concentration (Chl. a) were logged with salinometer, turbidity meter and water
depth gauges (COMPACT-CT, -CLW and -TD, JFE Advantech Co., Ltd.). The data were gathered every 5 minutes during a series of tidal motion. The logged data (salinity and Chl. a) was pooled to get daily average values and to estimate its mean values in a periodical tidal duration (14 days). Substrate samples for analyzing or-

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N. Li et al.

ganic contents and Corbicula bivalves were gathered with the Ekman-Birge grab (area = 0.0225 m2). The SPOM
samples were collected by filtering a certain volume of water (25 μm mesh, 2000 L), sealed in a plastic bottle.
These collected data are a part of our conventional works [7].

2.2. Laboratory Procedure
Benthic organisms were separated from each of the substrate content. Individuals of Corbicula japonica andCorbicula leana were identified and were estimated their numbers and measured their sizes. Then we divided
them into each class of the following three groups [7] as L size ≥ 15 mm, 7 mm ≤ M size ≤ 15 mm, and S size ≤7 mm. We estimated the density of each size of the bivalves in all stations. To measure the stable isotope ratiosof carbon and nitrogen of these individuals, the tissues of them were dried and removed fat by according to theconventional method [8], then were analyzed with the Flashy EA1112-DELTAV ADVANTAGE ConFloⅣ
System (EA-IRMS) (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.).
Sampled SPOMs were divided into two parts. One was used to estimate their concentrations by ash free dry
mass (AFDM), according to Biggs and Karloy [9]. They were separated from samples by GF/B glass-fiber filters (0.47 mm Whatman Janan Ltd., Tokyo), dried with thermostat at 105˚C for 24 hrs, and measured their dry
mass. Their AFDM were estimated by lost contents with a muffle furnace (MPN-310, Shimadzu Rika Co., Ltd.)at 400˚C for 4 hrs. The other was pretreated and was measured stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen [8]similar as the bivalve samples. The δ13C and δ15N are expressed by the standard δ notation as follows:δ X ( Rsample Rstandard ) − 1 × 103=(1)

where X is either 13C or 15N, and R is 13C/12C for carbon and 15N/14N for nitrogen. Pee Dee Belemnite and atmospheric nitrogen were used as the isotope standards for carbon and nitrogen, respectively. Also, we sampled
culms or leaves of typical terrestrial plants such as reeds and willows in each of the stations, to measure theirstable isotope ratios. Moreover, the Cluster analysis (with Euclidean distance and Ward’s method) was conducted to categorize the SPOM variations with stable isotope ratios.

2.3. Data Analysis
Student’s t test was conducted to determine whether there were significant differences in physical items between
Sts. R and L. Two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used to test the effects of the size (L, M and S) andtransverse location (St. R, St. M and St. L) on the density of each of the bivalves. If there were any significant
differences in each of the variables, the Scheffe’s F tests were run to confirm where the differences occurred
between groups.
The IsoSource (ver. 1.3.1) software [10] was used to determine the percentage of contribution of each of theorganic matters to the diet of bivalve using both δ13C and δ15N. All possible combinations of each source contribution (0% - 100%) were examined by small increments (1% - 2%). The incremental parameter was set to 1%,
and the tolerance parameter was initially set at 0.1%. If the mixture isotope values were out of bounds, we increased the tolerance parameter by 0.1% until it reached [11]. In adopting these software, we set the hypotheticalfood source by giving presumptive 0.8‰ trophic shift in the δ13C and 3‰ shift in the δ13N [12] between potential food sources and the bivalves.

3. Result and Discussion
3.1. Physical Environment Condition
Because most of the features about physical environment conditions have already described in our previous paper [7], we hereby introduce the items related to the diet conditions. Table 2 shows the concentrations of chlorophyll a, SPOM and salinity in each of the station. According to the Student’s t-test results, both of themshowed significantly higher values in St. R compare to those in St. L (P < 0.05). The SPOM at St. R was also
somehow higher than that at St. L. It indicated that habitat environment in St. R is considered to be relatively
lentic while that in St. L is considered to be lotic, which are contrasting landscapes due to the series of groins.

3.2. Distributions of Corbicula bivalves
Figure 3 shows the density distributions with the three size classes of the C. japonica (a) and leana (b) in each1476

N. Li et al.

Table 2. Concentrations of chlorophyll a, SPOM and salinity.
St. R

St. M

St. L

Chl a (μg/l)

11.72 ± 7.28-

1.13 ± 0.58

AFDM of SPOM (mg/m2)

5.51

1.15

0.71

Salinity (PSU)

0.29 ± 0.55-

0.04 ± 0.05

Figure 3. Density distributions with three size classes of C. japonica (a) and leana (b) in Sts. R, M and L.

of the stations, as they have been shown in our conventional work [7]. Two-way ANOVA results showed thatneither size nor the locations significantly influenced density of the bivalves (P < 0.01). The total density of C.
japonica showed lower value in St. R than the other stations. In contrast, C. leana showed much higher density
in St. R. Additionally, the C. japonica individuals in St. R were completely composed by the M size ones, however, in Sts. M and L, those were mainly occupied by the S size one.
About the C. leana individuals, their M size ones were main components in each of the station. The density ofboth of the bivalves showed converse result along the transverse direction.

3.3. Spatial Variation of Stable Isotopic Signatures of SPOMs
Figure 4 shows the δ13C and δ15N plots of SPOMs in all of the collected samplings. The δ13C ranged from
−27.76‰ to 24.24‰, showed a systematic decreased tendency from seaward to landward except some of irregular point such as St. D2 (−27.15‰). In transverse direction, the δ13C in the thalweg area (Sts. M and U2),
showed relatively higher values than with and without groins area of the same cross-section. In the previous
study, marine POM showed significantly higher value of δ13C than river and terrestrial POMs [13]. They concluded that the values of δ13C were gradually decreasing from seaward to terrestrial side [13]. However, in thecurrent study, considering the different terrain and vegetation distribution between the areas with and without
groins, the δ13C values of SPOM did not change regularly following the salinity concentration as shown in theconventional report [13]. Additionally, the SPOM showed a wide range of δ15N values ranged from 1.70‰ to
5.01‰.
Table 3 shows the results of classification by using the cluster analysis with the carbon and nitrogen stable
isotope ratios. The sampled SPOMs were categorized into 4 groups based on Euclidean distance. The group I
displayed lower δ13C values (−27.15‰ - −26.8‰) and more enriched δ15N values (4.31‰ - 5.01‰) than theother groups. They were similar with the collected samples of reed, P. australis (δ13C = −27.29‰, δ15N =4.95‰). It means that SPOM of group I might derive from detritus of autochthonous terrestrial vegetation. Bothof two samples of the type II were collected from the stations near to the left bank without groins (Sts. L andU3), which showed intermediate values of δ13C (−26.34‰ - −25.70‰) and relatively lower values of δ15N
(3.00‰ - 3.53‰). The group III was composed of the data from the area with groins (Sts. R and D1) and thalweg area (Sts. M and U2). Their higher salinity values (Table 2) and relatively enriched values of δ13C suggested that the type III was mainly affected by high tide intrusion. The δ13C-enriched marine organic matter

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N. Li et al.

Figure 4. δ13C and δ15N plots of potential food sources (SPOMs), collected from Sts. R, M and L; upstream Sts. U1, 2, 3 and
4 and downstream Sts. D1 and 2.
Table 3. SPOM classification by the cluster analysis with euclidean distance depending on δ13C and δ15N values.
Group

I

II

III

IV

StationSt. D2, St. U1

St. L, St. U3

St. D1, St. R, St. M, St. U2

St. U4

δ C variation−27.15 - −26.8−26.34 - −25.70−25.50 - −24.24−27.76

δ N variation

4.31 - 5.01

3.00 - 3.53

3.79 - 4.39

1.7

13

15

brought by the tidal current easily intruded or reserved in these. The type IV collected from the upper estuary (St.
U4 in 24R km) showed the lowest values of δ13C (−27.76‰) and δ15N (1.7‰), which indicated that it wasstrongly influenced by terrestrial particulate organic matter (TPOM) [13].
According to the result of these classifications, the SPOM collected from Sts. D2, L and U4 were selected as
the representative end members of group of I, II and IV, respectively. Although Sts. R and M belonged to thesame group III, the SPOMs collected from Sts. R or M were selected as the representative end members of typeof III according to the proximity principle. In the food source analysis below, these end members are considered
to be used for the estimation with the IsoSource [10].

3.4. Spatial Variation in Isotopic Signatures for Benthic Bivalves
Figure 5 shows the δ13C and δ15N plots of muscle tissues of C. japonica and leana in each of the stations. The
δ13C of C. japonica ranged from −26.7‰ to −25.81‰, while those of C. leana showed relatively higher values
ranged from −26.2‰ to −25.0‰. The δ15N of C. japonica showed narrow range (5.94‰ to 7.00‰), while C.
leana showed wider and relatively lower values (3.41‰ to 6.68‰). The characteristic of isotope values for these
two bivalves suggested that C. japonica preferred the organic matter with depleted-δ13C and more enriched-δ15N
SPOM as the food source compared to C. leana in this study area.
Figure 6(a) shows that the δ13C and δ15N plots of SPOM end members and C. japonica individuals with thesesize variations. Both of the hypothetical diets of each of the bivalves and the food source polygon with the end
members are drawn in this figure. Their isotope signatures of hypothetical diets were quite different from thoseof SPOMs in the same location. It suggested that the neighbor SPOM cannot always be used as the essential
food source for C. japonica in each of the locations. As the isotope signatures of bivalves decreasing from St. R,
their hypothetical diets were closer to SPOM of St. D2 and St. U4 indicated the contributions of these two foodsources increased from Sts. R to L. We also can infer that SPOMs of Sts. D2 and U4 are the necessary diets, because if one of the SPOM of Sts. D2 and U4 were absent, almost all of the isotope signatures of hypothetical diet

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7

δ15N(‰)

N. Li et al.

St.L C.japonica S

6St.L C.japonica M

5.5

St.L C.japonica S

5

St.R C.leana L

4.5

St.R C.leana M

3.5
3
-26.5

-26δ13C(‰)-25.5-25

St.M C.japonica M

6.5

4

-27

St.R.japonica M

St.R C.leana S
St.M C.leana M
St.M C.leana S

St.L C.leana M
2.5-24.5 St.L C.leana S

78

δ15N(‰)

8

7

St.D2 SPOM

6

δ15N(‰)

Figure 5. δ13C and δ15N plots of C. japonica and leana with size classes (S, M and L) in Sts. R, M and L.

6

St.L SPOM

43polygon for foodsources-26
δ13C(‰)-25

hypothetical diet

St.M C.japonica M

2polygon fo foodsources3

St.R C.leana S

2

St.M C.leana M

St.L C.japonica S-24

St.L C.japonica S

St.L C.leana M

0
-28

(a)

St.M C.leana S

1

St.L C.japonica M

0-27

St.R C.leana M

St.R.japonica M

1-28

St.R C.leana L

4

St.U4 SPOM

hypothetical diet

St.M SPOM

St.U4 SPOM

5

St.M SPOM

St.R SPOM

St.L SPOM

St.R SPOM
5

St.D2 SPOM

-27 δ13C(‰) -26

-25

-24

St.L C.leana S(b)

Figure 6. δ C and δ N plots of SPOM end members and C. japonica (a) and C. leana (b) with size variations. Hypothetical
diets are put a ring around, and connected to each of the bivalves with dotted lines. Food source polygon with the end members are drawn by broken lines.
13

15

would outside the convex polygon boundary of the food sources [11]. The S size C. japonica individuals showed
relatively lower δ15N values in Sts. M and L than the larger individuals, which implied that they might take relatively depleted-δ15N SPOM was the main diet.
Figure 6(b) shows that the δ13C and δ15N plots of SPOM end members and C. leana with size variations.
Both of their hypothetical diets and food source polygon with the end members are drawn in the same figure.
The δ13C and δ15N of L and M size individuals of C. leana found in with groin area (St. R) showed the mostenriched values (δ13C = −25.0‰, δ15N = 6.68‰; δ13C = −25.1‰, δ15N = 6.60‰, respectively). The isotope signatures of hypothetical diet of L and M size individuals (Figure 6(b), ca. δ13C = −25.8‰, δ15N = 3.64‰) exhibited similar values to St. R (in situ), which suggests that the neighbor SPOM take largest contribution to theirfood composition. While the δ13C and δ15N of hypothetical diets for M size individuals in Sts. L and M werecloser to the SPOMs in Sts.U4 and D2, which indicated they were the important food sources. Additionally, theisotope signatures of hypothetical diets for S size of C. leana displayed similar values of δ13C (ca. −26.3‰) ineach of the stations, while the δ15N (0.4‰ - 2.80‰) was relatively lower than the larger individuals (3.40‰ 3.68‰). The plots of hypothetical diets indicated that C. leana might shift the food sources depending on
growth stages; we could not find the food sources for S size individuals in the present study because points of1479

N. Li et al.

their isotope signatures were out of food sources of polygon.

3.5. Food Sources Contribution
Figure 7 shows that the food compositions (%) of the SPOM end members for C. japonica (a) and leana (b) ineach of the stations. The M size of C. japonica, the SPOM from St. D2 accounted for the largest contribution of
the food sources (40.4% - 66.6%), and followed by the SPOM from St. U4 (4.2% - 32.1%) in each of the station.
The contributions of these two food sources showed an increased tendency from the area with groins (St. R) tothat without groins (St. L). Great utilization of δ13C-depleted SPOM (SPOM of Sts. D2 and U4) in each of thestations indicated that the adult of C. japonica might be a selective filter feeder, mainly depended on TPOM. In
the area with groins (St. R), water exchange was reduced due to the blocking effect of groins [14], which limited
the material transport between the area with groins (St. R) and thalweg zone (St. M). Consequently, their preferable food sources could be prevented into the semi-closed embayment area (St. R), while in the area without
groins (St. L), water exchanging supplied the preferable food sources. Additionally, highest concentration ofneighbor SPOM (5.51 mg/L, Table 2) corresponded to the lowest density of C. japonica bivalves (22.2 ind/m2,
Figure 3) in St. R; the lowest concentration of SPOM in Sts. M and L (1.15 and 0.71 mg/L respectively, Table2) corresponded to the highest density of C. japonica bivalves (155.5 ind/m2, 111.1 ind/m2, Figure 3). It also
proved that a large amount of δ13C-enriched SPOM in St. R might not be as an ideal food source for C. japonica.
The SPOM which showed depleted δ13C value might be the potential food source for C. japonica such as terrestrial organic matter. These kinds of processes were also observed in the previous study [6].
Food sources for the S size individuals of C. japonica in Sts. M and L showed relatively lower utilization of
SPOM from St. D2 (ca.24%) and higher those from St. U4 (ca.39%), while M size individuals suggested that
smaller size of C. japonica tended to digest and assimilate the food sources with relatively lower δ15N. It was
supposed that the smaller size of C. japonica might have weak capacity in assimilating the SPOM derived from
nitrogen-polluted water since increased δ15N value was found in excessive richness of nitrogen loaded water[12].
Regarding the C. leana, in St. R, the L and M size individuals showed similar food source compositions,mainly depended on the neighbor SPOM which accounted for 60.5% and 53.2% respectively. The M size of C.
leana in Sts. M and L showed similar food compositions, mainly depended on the SPOM from St. D2 (44.6%,
40.9% respectively) and St. U4 (28.4%, 29% respectively). The adult C. leana completely shifted food compositions between the area with groins (St. R) and the one without groins (St. L), which indicated that adult C. leana
might be an opportunistic filter feeder. In the area with groins (St. R), dense Chl. a with neighbor abundant
SPOM (11.72 μg/L, 5.51 mg/L, Table 2) were trapped in this kind of semi-closed area. In this situation, the utilization of the neighbor SPOM was higher. A large quantity of food sources in situ supported approximately 3
times of individuals in Sts. L or M (Figure 3). However, in the area without groins (St. L), due to the bare andrelatively open terrain, the primary production might be lower. The Chl. a and SPOM (1.13 μg/L, 0.71 mg/L,
Table 2) were insufficient and could not provide enough diet. Under this situation, individuals of C. leana decreased
100

Relative concentration(％)

90

St.U4 SPOM

80
70

St.D2 SPOM

60
50
40

St.L SPOM

30
20

St.R or M SPOM

10

Relative concentration(％)

100

90

St.U4 SPOM

80
70

St.D2 SPOM

60
50

St.L SPOM

40
30
20

St.R or M
SPOM

10
0

0

St.R L size St.R M size St.M M size St.LM size

St.R M size St.M M size St.M S size St.LM size St.L S size

(a)

(b)

Figure 7. Food compositions (%) of the SPOM end members for C. japonica (a) and leana (b) in each of the stations.

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N. Li et al.

compared with St. R (Figure 3). However, bare terrain also promoted water mixing process between river flow
and intruded marine and made food sources diverse. The conventional study concluded that C. leana was a fresh
water bivalve and selected TPOM as the food source [15]. However, in the present research, the adult C. leana
was considered as an opportunistic filter feeder as δ13C of food source fluctuated from −27.76% to −24.24‰;
δ15N ranged from 1.70‰ to 5.01‰.

4. Conclusions
This study has treated the conditions of feeding environments of two kinds of Corbicula bivalves in a tidal riverwith transverse variations by using the ISO Source mixing model [10] with the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of their potential food sources. According to their results, we could have clarified their food compositions in each growth stage in tidal river with varied landscapes as follows:
The adult of C. japonica (L size ≥ 15 mm, 7 mm ≤ M size ≤ 15 mm) might be a selective filter feeder, mainly
depended on TPOM (SPOM from St. D2 and St. U4). The contributions of this kind of food sources showed anincreased tendency from the area with groins (St. R) to that without groins (St. L). The diet for S size individualsof C. japonica (≤7 mm) did not show obvious differences from the adult individuals. However, the contributionof δ13C-depleted SPOM increased in the diet of S size individuals.
The adult C. leana might be an opportunistic filter feeder as δ13C of food source fluctuated from −27.76‰ to−24.24‰; δ15N ranged from 1.70‰ to 5.01‰. They completely shifted food compositions between the areawith groins (St. R) and the one without groins (St. L). In the area with groins, they mainly depended on the
SPOM derived from neighbor water column, which in the area without groins and of thalweg zone, they mainly
depended on TPOM due to the fluvial and tidal processes. The δ15N value of hypothetical diet for S size individuals showed 0.88‰ - 3.00‰ lower than those for the M and L size individuals, and could not be explainedwith the potential food sources which we treated. Therefore, the C. leana individuals might shift their foodsources corresponding to each of their growth stages.
These findings in the present study can help to understand the upper estuary ecosystem processes in the waterwith very low saline condition where there were few conventional works.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their deepest gratitude to Dr. Yuji Toda, for the technical advices with many
crucial comments, and to Mr. Masaaki Yoshimoto and the other members of hydraulic engineering laboratory of
Nagoya University, for the heartwarming supports in their field surveys and laboratory analyses.

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