Exotic invaders gain foraging benefits by shoaling with native fish

Camacho‐Cervantes, Morelia; Garcı́a, Constantino Macı́as; Ojanguren, Alfredo F.; Magurran, Anne E.

doi:10.1098/rsos.140101

Cited by 23 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 58 publications

(78 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Fish in heterospecific shoals experience reduced predation through a confusion effect and early predator warning (Krause & Ruxton, ). Mixed‐species shoaling has been shown to facilitate invasion success in the freshwater guppy (Camacho‐Cervantes, Garcia, Ojanguren, & Magurran, ), and is hypothesised to be a common, yet underappreciated positive interaction among freshwater fishes (Matthews, ).…”

Section: Types Of Positive Interactions In Freshwatersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive biotic interactions in freshwaters: A review and research directive

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Positive interspecific interactions such as mutualism, commensalism, and facilitation are globally ubiquitous. Although research on positive interactions in terrestrial and marine systems has progressed over the past few decades, comparatively little is known about them in freshwater ecosystems. However, recent advances have brought the study of positive interactions in freshwater systems to a point where synthesis is warranted. In this review, we catalogue the variety of direct positive interactions described to date in freshwater ecosystems, discuss factors that could influence prevalence and impact of these interactions, and provide a framework for future research. In positive interactions, organisms exchange key resources such as nutrients, protection, transportation, or habitat to a net benefit for at least one participant. A few mutualistic relationships have received research attention to date, namely seed‐dispersing fishes, crayfishes and their ectosymbiotic cleaners, and communal‐spawning stream fishes. Similarly, only a handful of commensalisms have been studied, primarily phoretic relationships. Facilitation via ecosystem engineering has received more attention, for example habitat modification by beavers and bioturbation by salmon. It is well known that interaction outcomes vary with abiotic and biotic context. However, only a few of studies have examined context dependency in positive interactions in freshwater systems. Likewise, positive interactions incur costs as well as benefits; conceptualising interactions in terms of net cost/benefit to participants will help to clarify complex interactions. It is likely that there are many positive interactions that have yet to be discovered in freshwater systems. To identify these interactions, we encourage inductive natural history studies combined with hypotheses deduced from general ecological models. Research on positive interactions must move beyond small‐scale experiments and observational studies and adopt a cross‐scale approach. Likewise, we must progress from reducing systems to oversimplified pairwise interactions, toward studying positive interactions in broader community contexts. Positive interactions have been greatly overlooked in applied freshwater ecology, but have great potential for conservation, restoration, and aquaculture.

show abstract

Section: Types Of Positive Interactions In Freshwatersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive biotic interactions in freshwaters: A review and research directive

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Results suggest that P. reticulata benefit from the formation of mixed‐species shoals to the same extent as single‐species shoals. This is an important finding as it may partially explain why P. reticulata are so successful at establishing populations in novel environments, even when occurring at low densities during the initial stages of invasion (Camacho‐Cervantes et al ., ). Like species invasions, the seasonal displacement of coral reef fishes to higher latitude temperate ecosystems is a global phenomenon which results in low density settlement of tropical fishes in novel temperate ecosystems (Beck et al ., ; Booth et al ., ; Hutchins, ; Hutchins & Pearce, ; McBride, ; McBride & Able, ; Nakazono, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The formation of mixed-species social groups by animals can provide important fitness benefits (Goodale et al, 2017). Indeed, mixed-species shoaling by fishes may afford key benefits to individuals which ultimately increase growth and survival (e.g., Camacho-Cervantes et al, 2014;Sackley & Kaufman, 1996;Smith et al, 2018). The net benefits gaind from mixed-species shoaling theoretically result from multiple fitness trade-offs predominantly associated with predation risk and foraging efficiency (Paijmans et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the multiple potential benefits of mixed-species shoaling there are also important costs, including asymmetric food competition (e.g., Maes & Ollevier, 2002) and increased predation threat due to phenotypic oddity (Landeau & Terborgh, 1986), which must be outweighed by benefits if individuals are to gain net benefit. Net benefits gained from the formation of mixed-species shoals can be important in facilitating the growth and survival of displaced gregarious fishes (Camacho-Cervantes et al, 2014;Smith et al, 2018). Results suggest that P. reticulata benefit from the formation of mixedspecies shoals to the same extent as single-species shoals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Predation avoidance and foraging efficiency contribute to mixed‐species shoaling by tropical and temperate fishes

Paijmans

Booth

Wong

2020

Journal of Fish Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The formation of mixed‐species social groups, whereby heterospecifics form and maintain either transient or stable groups with each other, can confer substantial fitness benefits to individuals. Such benefits may arise via multiple mechanisms associated with both predation avoidance and foraging efficiency. In fishes, mixed‐species shoaling reportedly occurs where displaced tropical species (known as “vagrants”) interact with resident temperate species, although little is known about the nature and frequency of such interactions. To investigate this phenomenon, we used displaced tropical Indo‐pacific Sergeant Abudefduf vaigiensis settling in temperate south‐eastern Australia as a model system. Underwater visual surveys revealed shoal composition and size differed significantly between open‐water and reef habitats, with shoals in open habitats being larger and more speciose. Shoals containing A. vaigiensis were mainly mixed‐species, and larger and more speciose in open habitats than nearer to reef. Since both foraging efficiency (via access to plankton) and predation threat likely increase with increasing distance from reef habitat, we suggest that mixed‐species shoaling mitigates predation risk whilst allowing increased foraging opportunities for A. vaigiensis in open areas. These findings provide support for the importance of mixed‐species shoaling to the persistence of tropical reef fishes in temperate regions.

show abstract

“…However, our findings are in agreement with previous studies showing that invasive species can derive benefits from joining heterospecific groupings with native locals and can succeed in “overriding the oddity effect” (sensu Mathis & Chivers, ). For example, invasive guppies ( Poecilia reticulata ) in Mexico derive benefits in foraging efficiency (Camacho‐Cervantes, Garcia, Ojanguren, & Magurran, ) and boldness (Camacho‐Cervantes, Ojanguren, & Magurran, ) by joining heterospecific shoals with native topminnows. The apparent absence of an ‘oddity effect’ in the present study could be due to the critical driver of shoaling benefit being similarity in body size of individuals, rather than absolute species identity (Rodgers, Ward, Askwith, & Morrell, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Stick with your own kind, or hang with the locals?’ Implications of shoaling strategy for tropical reef fish on a range‐expansion frontline

Smith

Fox

Booth

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Range shifts of tropical marine species to temperate latitudes are predicted to increase as a consequence of climate change. To date, the research focus on climate-mediated range shifts has been predominately dealt with the physiological capacity of tropical species to cope with the thermal challenges imposed by temperate latitudes. Behavioural traits of individuals in the novel temperate environment have not previously been investigated, however, they are also likely to play a key role in determining the establishment success of individual species at the range-expansion forefront. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of shoaling strategy on the performance of juvenile tropical reef fishes that recruit annually to temperate waters off the south east coast of Australia. Specifically, we compared body-size distributions and the seasonal decline in abundance through time of juvenile tropical fishes that shoaled with native temperate species ('mixed' shoals) to those that shoaled only with conspecifics (as would be the case in their tropical range). We found that shoaling with temperate native species benefitted juvenile tropical reef fishes, with individuals in 'mixed' shoals attaining larger body-sizes over the season than those in 'tropical-only' shoals. This benefit in terms of population body-size distributions was accompanied by greater social cohesion of 'mixed' shoals across the season. Our results highlight the impact that sociality and behavioural plasticity are likely to play in determining the impact on native fish communities of climate-induced range expansion of coral reef fishes.

show abstract

Exotic invaders gain foraging benefits by shoaling with native fish

Cited by 23 publications

References 58 publications

Positive biotic interactions in freshwaters: A review and research directive

Positive biotic interactions in freshwaters: A review and research directive

Predation avoidance and foraging efficiency contribute to mixed‐species shoaling by tropical and temperate fishes

‘Stick with your own kind, or hang with the locals?’ Implications of shoaling strategy for tropical reef fish on a range‐expansion frontline

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About