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Primary consumers play a key role in coastal ecosystems by transferring organic matter from primary producers to predators. Among them, suspension-feeders, like bivalve molluscs are widely used in trophic web studies. The main goal of this study was to investigate variations of C and N elemental and isotopic ratios in common bivalves (M. edulis, M. galloprovincialis, and C. gigas) at large spatial (i.e. among three coastal regions) and different temporal (i.e. from seasonal to multi-decadal) scales in France, in order to identify potential general or specific patterns and speculate on their drivers. The observed spatial variability was related to the trophic status of the coastal regions (oligotrophic Mediterranean Sea versus meso- to eutrophic English Channel and Atlantic ocean), but not to ecosystem typology (estuaries, versus lagoons versus bays versus littoral systems). Furthermore, it highlighted local specificities in terms of the origin of the POM assimilated by bivalves (e.g., mainly continental POM vs. marine phytoplankton vs. microphytobenthic algae). Likewise, seasonal variability was related both to the reproduction cycle for C/N ratios of Mytilus spp. and to changes in trophic resources for δ 13 C of species located close to river mouth. Multi-decadal evolution exhibited shifts and trends for part of the 30-year series with decreases in δ 13 C and δ 15 N. Specifically, shifts appeared in the early 2000's, likely linking bivalve isotopic ratios to a cascade of processes affected by local drivers., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of digenean trematode parasites and their marine mollusc hosts was investigated to describe the potential influence of parasites on their host and its different tissues, and to obtain further insight into their trophic relationships. Four parasite-host systems were studied: Labratrema minimus-Cerastoderma edule, Monorchis parvus-C. edule, Lepocreadiidae parasites-Nassarius reticulatus and Zoogonidae parasites-N. reticulatus. Among the 4 sampling occasions reported here and corresponding to the 4 parasite-host systems, isotopic shifts from pathologic (i.e. linked to disturbances in host metabolism) and mass-balance (i.e. linked to significant differences between host and parasite isotopic signatures) origins were observed only once. Both corresponded to delta 13C measurements of the L. minimus-C. edule system when the infestation load (percentage parasite dry weight compared to total flesh dry weight) was highest (9 to 25%, mean = 16%) over the sampling period. Overall, measurements indicate that digenean trematode parasitism induced low or no shifts in isotopic signatures of C. edule and N. reticulatus tissues. The 2 endoparasites L. minimus and M. parvus appeared to be slightly depleted in 13C compared to C. edule digestive gland and gonads, which were the most parasitized tissues. In contrast, no fractionation or low 15N trophic enrichments occurred in the parasites. These results highly contrast with the classical trophic enrichment reported in prey-predator systems but are in agreement with the scarce literature regarding other parasite-host systems. Our results indicate that (1) digenean trematodes mainly feed on digestive glands (the cockle tissue with which they are mainly associated) with a possible slight preference for lipids, and (2) fractionation due to parasite metabolism should be low due to abbreviated metabolic pathways and/or slight loss of materials through excretion, tegument diffusion and respiration.