Carbon Sources Supporting Macro-Invertebrate Communities in Restored Mangrove Forests from Hau Loc, Thanh Hoa, Vietnam

Mangrove forests are important in providing habitats for complex communities of terrestrial and marine fauna. Moreover, they are recognized as highly productive ecosystems in providing nutrients to mangrove food webs or exporting them to nearby coastal waters. In the present study, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen were applied to examine the changes in the diets of benthic invertebrate communities following mangrove restoration. The isotope signature of invertebrate tissues varied among the forest ages and locations and ranged from 3.7 ± 1.0 to 13.9 ± 1.1‰ and −26.6 ± 0.5 to −15.0 ± 0.4‰ for δ15N and δ13C, respectively. The results showed that the food source assimilation of macro-invertebrates is slightly altered from a mixture of benthic microalgae and marine phytoplankton in the mudflat to a combination of benthic microalgae and sediment organic matter in the Sonneratia caseolaris and the Kandelia obovata forests. Therefore, the diets of macro-invertebrates varied following forest ages and the position of the forest in the intertidal zone. These insights from the present study are useful for the effective conservation and restoration of mangrove forests in Vietnam and worldwide.