Ratio-based trophic niche breadths of fish, the Sheldon spectrum, and the size-efficiency hypothesis

Lukatelich, RJ; McComb, A.J.

doi:10.3354/meps027287

Cited by 68 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The analysis of trophic niche breath did not show any relationship to standard length. This indicates that there is no trophic specialization in relation to prey size throughout early development because, as previously reported in other species, larvae continue ingesting small prey items in addition to the larger ones (Pearre, 1986;Sabatés and Saiz, 2000;Morote, 2008a, b;Llopiz, 2013;Bernal et al, 2013;Vera-Duarte and Landaeta, 2016).…”

Section: Predator-prey Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 75%

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Feeding ecology of early life stages of mesopelagic fishes in the equatorial and tropical Atlantic

Contreras

Olivar

Hulley

et al. 2018

ICES Journal of Marine Science

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We analysed the trophic ecology of the early ontogenetic stages of six mesopelagic fish species (Bathylagoides argyrogaster, Argyropelecus sladeni, Sternoptyx diaphana, Diaphus vanhoeffeni, Hygophum macrochir, and Myctophum affine), which have different morphologies, vertical distributions, and taxonomic affiliations. The larvae and transforming stages of the sternoptychids fed both during the day and at night. However, larvae of the other species fed during the day, as they apparently rely on light for prey capture. The transforming stages of myctophids showed a similar daylight feeding pattern to their larvae, but in D. vanhoeffeni both day and night feeding was evident, thereby indicating the progressive change toward the adult nocturnal feeding pattern. The number of prey and their maximum sizes were linked to predator gut morphology and gape size. Although the maximum prey size increased with predator development, postflexion larvae and transforming stages also preyed on small items, so that the trophic niche breath did not show evidence of specialization. In all the species, copepods dominated the larval diet, but the transforming stages were characterized by increasing diet diversity. Despite the poor development of these early stages, Chesson’s selectivity index calculated for larvae and transforming stages showed positive selection for particular prey.

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Section: Predator-prey Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 75%

“…For each species the trophic niche breadth was analysed according to Pearre (1986) as the standard deviation (SD) of the log10 transformed maximum prey width, plotted against the SL. The larvae were grouped into 0.12 mm size intervals to produce the maximum number of size classes containing at least three or more prey items.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding ecology of early life stages of mesopelagic fishes in the equatorial and tropical Atlantic

Contreras

Olivar

Hulley

et al. 2018

ICES Journal of Marine Science

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“…Interestingly, the range of prey sizes that herring larvae could utilize to maintain a positive rate of growth increased with increasing fish size. Other studies have suggested that optimal prey sizes (Munk, 1992) and the range in relative prey sizes (‘ratio‐based trophic niche breadth’, Pearre, 1986) remain constant with increasing larval length, which as an extension of Cushing's match‐mismatch hypothesis led to the concept of “surfing the size spectrum” (e.g. Pope et al, 1994).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The costs and trade‐offs of optimal foraging in marine fish larvae

Hauss

Schwabe

Peck

2023

Journal of Animal Ecology

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In a warming world, both the metabolic rates of ectotherm predators and the phenology of their prey organisms is subject to change. Knowledge on how intrinsic and extrinsic factors govern predator–prey interactions is essential in order to understand how the environment regulates the vital rates of consumers. Controlled experiments, however, simultaneously testing behavioural and growth responses of the larvae of fish and other ectotherm organisms in different feeding regimes are scarce. Prey size (PS) selection was determined for young Atlantic herring Clupea harengus L. larvae offered 100‐ to 850‐μm copepods Acartia tonsa at five different concentrations. In separate, 4‐ (13°C) or 7‐day (7°C) trials, the effect of prey size on larval foraging behaviour, specific growth rate (SGR) and biochemical condition (RNA:DNA, RD, a proxy for individual instantaneous growth) was tested. Preferred (selected) PS was similar at all prey concentrations but increased from 3% to 5% predator length with increasing larval size. At various temperatures, dome‐shaped relationships existed between PS and larval RD (and accordingly SGR). Compensatory changes in foraging behaviour (pause and feeding strike frequencies) existed but were not adequate to maintain positive SGR when available prey were substantially smaller than those preferred by larvae. A physiology‐based model predicted that larvae depended more heavily on optimal prey sizes at the colder versus warmer temperature to grow well and that the profitable prey niche breadth (the range in prey sizes in which growth was positive) increased at warmer temperatures. Seemingly subtle match‐mismatch dynamics between ectotherm predators and their preferred prey size can have large, temperature‐dependent consequences for rates of growth and likely survival of the predator. To the best knowledge, this was the first study to directly quantify the “costs and trade‐offs” of optimal foraging in marine fish larvae.

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“…Due to the wind and tidal activity, bottom microalgae resuspension plays a key role in the phytoplankton dynamics, and their proportions can be high in the phytoplankton abundance of shallow lakes and lagoons [7,12]. With decreasing water depth and increasing salinity, the contribution of microphytobenthos to the primary productivity of aquatic ecosystems increases, while the contribution of phytoplankton decreases [10,[13][14][15][16]. In hypersaline shallow water bodies, this contribution to total primary production will be especially high.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microphytobenthos in the Hypersaline Water Bodies, the Case of Bay Sivash (Crimea): Is Salinity the Main Determinant of Species Composition?

Shadrin

Balycheva

Anufriieva

2021

Water

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In hypersaline water bodies, the microphytobenthos plays a very important ecosystem role and demonstrates variability along with a salinity change. Due to anthropogenic activity, the sharp salinity increase in Bay Sivash occurred after 2014. To assess the changes in the microalgae community during the bay ecosystem transformation, the study was conducted four times in 2018 and 2019. At every sampling period, the samples were taken in a salinity gradient (from 7 to 10 sites). A total of 40 species of microalgae were identified during all research, including Cyanobacteria (Cyanophyceae, 2 species), Ochrophyta (Bacillariophyceae, 35 species), Haptophyta (Prymnesiophyceae, 2 species), and Miozoa (Dinophyceae, 1 species). According to the calculated similarity indices of Jaccard and Czekanowski–Sørensen–Dice, the species composition significantly differed during sampling periods. A total of 15 species were recorded at salinities of 80–90 psu, and 10 species at higher salinities, which contribute 64% of all species found in this study. The microalgae abundance was two times more in the floating green algae mat than on the bottom. There was no significant correlation between the number of species and salinity in all sampling periods. In November 2018, a significant positive correlation between the number of species in the sample and total suspended solids (TSS) and dissolved organic matter (DOM) was revealed. A significant correlation between the cell length in different species and salinity and DOM concentration was noted. Before the onset of the salinity increase, 61 species of microalgae were found in Eastern Sivash, of which only 12 have now been recorded, 31% of the currently found species. The characteristics of the total microphytobenthos abundance also significantly changed during all studies. Many characteristics have changed in the bay: the concentration of total suspended matter and dissolved organic matter, the temperature regime, composition of zoobenthos and plankton, and oxygen concentration. Due to this, it is unlikely that only the salinity increase caused the microphytobenthos changes in the lagoon.

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Ratio-based trophic niche breadths of fish, the Sheldon spectrum, and the size-efficiency hypothesis

Cited by 68 publications

References 25 publications

Feeding ecology of early life stages of mesopelagic fishes in the equatorial and tropical Atlantic

Feeding ecology of early life stages of mesopelagic fishes in the equatorial and tropical Atlantic

The costs and trade‐offs of optimal foraging in marine fish larvae

Microphytobenthos in the Hypersaline Water Bodies, the Case of Bay Sivash (Crimea): Is Salinity the Main Determinant of Species Composition?

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