No abstract

Stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (δ15N) have been used to estimate trophic position (TP) of organisms due to the predictable enrichment of nitrogen‐15 in consumer tissues relative to their diet. We explored estimates of trophic position using liver and muscle δ15N and stomach content analysis in a broad size range of Arapaima sp. from Amazonian floodplain lakes. Estimates of TP based on liver δ15N were more closely related to the stomach content data than estimates based on muscle δ15N, possibly because of the higher turnover of nitrogen in liver. Total length and season explained most of the variation in TP values estimated from δ15N, showing that they have more effect than prey trophic position on δ15N values. The TP estimated by identification of stomach content was 3.6 and was unrelated to the size of the arapaima. This highlights the need for a better understanding of the factors that affect values of δ15N and stomach content analysis is still needed to unravel the trophic ecology of predatory fishes.

Small communities are predicted to be strongly influenced by stochastic demographic events and, thus, less affected by environmental selection than large communities. However, this prediction has only been tested with computer simulations, simplified controlled experiments, and limited observational data. Using multicontinental data on riverine fish and considering recent advances in β-diversity metrics, we tested if communities composed of small populations are more spatially variable and more affected by ecological drift than communities composed of large populations. We show that variation in species composition among small communities was higher than among large communities and similar to stochastic assembly. We also show that the strength of species-environment relationships is weaker in small communities. Our results indicate that community size can affect the strength of ecological drift and environmental selection in metacommunities, and that further declines in the size of populations and ecosystems can make spatial variation in biodiversity more unpredictable.

The giant arapaima (Arapaima sp.) has been described as a fish of change in Amazonia because of its important role in the conservation of floodplains, food security and income generation for rural communities. Nonetheless, despite the cultural, ecological and economic importance of arapaima, data on diet are scarce. Aiming to expand knowledge about arapaima diet in western Amazonia, scientific knowledge was integrated with the knowledge of local dwellers. During the low-water period (September 2018) and the falling-water period (June 2019), arapaima stomachs were collected from 11 floodplain lakes in the middle Juruá River. All fishes were measured [TL (total length)] and sexed. Food items from each stomach were categorized as fishes, invertebrates, plants and bone remains and weighed. Also, in the latter period, experienced local fishers were interviewed about arapaima feeding. This integrated approach revealed that young arapaima eat fish and invertebrates but adult arapaima eat fish of a wide range of species, which were mainly of low and intermediate trophic positions. This study reports the first case of cannibalism for arapaima and also shows that during the low-water period, many individuals had empty stomachs or only some small fish-bone remains and/or plant material. Arapaima sex and TL had no influence on the absence of prey in stomach contents. Overall, it can be concluded that local people had consistent ethnobiological knowledge of arapaima feeding ecology that could be useful within management projects in the region.