Resource partitioning among sympatric elasmobranchs in the central-western Mediterranean continental shelf

Mulas, Antonello; Bellodi, Andrea; Cannas, Rita; Carbonara, Pierluigi; Cau, Alessandro; Marongiu, Martina Francesca; Pesci, Paola; Follesa, Maria Cristina

doi:10.1007/s00227-019-3607-0

Cited by 25 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 72 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…(4.0 ± 0.3 in 64 , 3.9 and 4.3 in 65 , 4.2 ± 0.6 in 58 ), ontogenetic diet shifts are common features in sharks and mirror an increased preference toward prey at higher trophic levels 76,82,83 . The observed progressive diet shift of the two smooth-hounds, occurring with a reduction in their interspecific trophic overlap during growth, can play an important role in promoting species coexistence, as shown also in other studies 84,85 . Lack of a strong interspecific segregation, as expected for two ecological and morphological similar species, such as mmus and mpun, can be the effect of a reduced trophic competition.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ontogenetic trophic segregation between two threatened smooth-hound sharks in the Central Mediterranean Sea

Lorenzo

Vizzini

Signa

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Elasmobranchs are among the species most threatened by overfishing and a large body of evidence reports their decline around the world. As they are large predators occupying the highest levels of marine food webs, their removal can alter the trophic web dynamic through predatory release effects and trophic cascade. Suitable management of threatened shark species requires a good understanding of their behaviour and feeding ecology. In this study we provide one of the first assessments of the trophic ecology of the "vulnerable" smooth-hounds Mustelus mustelus and M. punctulatus in the central Mediterranean Sea, based on stomach contents and stable isotope analyses. ontogenetic diet changes were addressed by comparing the feeding habits of three groups of individuals: juveniles, maturing and adults. our results highlighted that the two species share a similar diet based mostly on the consumption of benthic crustaceans (e.g. hermit crabs). their trophic level increases during ontogeny, with adults increasing their consumption of large-sized crustaceans (e.g. Calappa granulata, Palinurus elephas), cephalopods (e.g. Octopus vulgaris) and fish (e.g. Trachurus trachurus). our results provide also evidence of ontogenetic shifts in diet for both species showing a progressive reduction of interspecific trophic overlap during growth. The results of this study contribute to improve the current knowledge on the trophic ecology of these two threatened sharks in the Strait of Sicily, thus providing a better understanding of their role in the food web. Elasmobranch species are commonly recognized to be important predators in the marine realm 1 and play a crucial role in regulating marine ecosystems 2,3. Greater awareness of the trophic ecology of sharks can provide important information about the role they play during their life cycles and improve understanding of marine communities' structure and functioning. Many decades of severe human impacts have led to a rapid decline of many elasmobranch species around the world 4,5 , exacerbated by their biological vulnerability (e.g. slow growth rate, low fecundity, and late age at maturity) 2,5. As a consequence, many shark species are now registered by the IUCN as threatened or endangered 6. It has been shown that the decline of elasmobranch species has had marked ecological consequences 7,8. The loss of predators may negatively alter the food chain, triggering new interactions among species and marine ecosystem degradation 9. Therefore, improved knowledge about the elasmobranch trophic ecology, including the prey consumed, trophic level, ontogenetic diet changes, especially in the Mediterranean species, can play a crucial role in the development of new fishery management strategies. In fact, resource partitioning is one of the main processes for the coexistence of species 10. Partitioning, which has been observed in several organisms 12−14 , can occur along the space, time, or feeding niche axes 11 , during the same or at different

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…Among these mechanisms, a differentiation in foraging tactics could partially explain the results obtained in this study. 85,89 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ontogenetic trophic segregation between two threatened smooth-hound sharks in the Central Mediterranean Sea

Lorenzo

Vizzini

Signa

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Then, contents were analyzed and classified to the lowest taxonomic level possible. The percent Frequency of Occurrence (%FO) of a specific prey item in all samples was calculated [ 12 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though the Mediterranean basin represents only 1% of the global oceans, it is estimated that it hosts up to the 18% of the world’s macroscopic marine species, about 30% of which are endemic [ 7 ]. Among these, cartilaginous fishes such as sharks, batoids (skates and rays) and chimaeras are certainly some of the most iconic species for the majority of public opinion, mainly due to their fundamental ecological role as top predators [ 11 , 12 ]. At the same time, due to their k-selected life-history traits, cartilaginous fish are particularly vulnerable to overfishing, habitat deterioration and to the modifications in the biological communities’ composition, which are also linked to biodiversity loss and to the introduction of alien species, in a rapidly changing scenario [ 13 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bio-Ecological Features Update on Eleven Rare Cartilaginous Fish in the Central-Western Mediterranean Sea as a Contribution for Their Conservation

Mulas

Bellodi

Carbonara

et al. 2021

Life

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cartilaginous fish are commonly recognized as key species in marine ecosystems for their fundamental ecological role as top predators. Nevertheless, effective management plans for cartilaginous fish are still missing, due to the lack of knowledge on their abundance, distribution or even life-history. In this regard, this paper aims at providing new information on the life-history traits, such as age, maturity, reproductive period, in addition to diet characteristics of eleven rare cartilaginous fish inhabiting the Central-Western Mediterranean Sea belonging to the orders Chimaeriformes (Chimaera monstrosa), Hexanchiformes (Heptranchias perlo and Hexanchus griseus), Myliobatiformes (Aetomylaeus bovinus and Myliobatis aquila), Rajiformes (Dipturus nidarosiensis and Leucoraja circularis), Squaliformes (Centrophorus uyato, Dalatias licha and Oxynotus centrina) and Torpediniformes (Tetronarce nobiliana), useful for their assessment and for future management actions. Particularly, the present paper provides for the first time the age estimation of D. nidarosienis and L. circularis which were both found capable of becoming older than ten years. In addition, the present study updates the sizes of first maturity of C. uyato and D. licha, which appeared to be capable of reproducing earlier than what was previously hypothesized, representing very valuable information for a better understanding of these rare species populations status and, eventually, their conservation. On the basis of the stomach content analysis, it was possible to identify five different predator groups.

show abstract

“…Such clear ontogeny dietary shifts have been detected for several batoids species during throughout their life cycle (e.g. Farias et al 2006;Mulas et al 2019;Brown-Vuillemin et al 2020), complicating the usage of indicators, such as the trophic level, to compare species. Herein specific life-stage dietary preferences may represent different limitations and/or advantages when facing sources of disturbance.…”

Section: Exploratory Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Life-history traits of batoids (Superorder Batoidea) in the Northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean

Villagra

Bogaert

Ampe

et al. 2022

Rev Fish Biol Fisheries

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Life-history traits provide a way to estimate the vulnerability of both individuals and populations of a species to disturbance (e.g., overexploitation, climate change). Life-history traits compilations for species of batoids in the Northeast Atlantic (NEA) and the Mediterranean Sea (MED) are scarce, outdated, and generally limited to a local or a regional scale. A literature review compiling values of 10 life-history traits describing the growth, reproductive and feeding strategies of 14 batoids in the NEA and the MED was performed. Via a principal components analysis (PCA) the main drivers of variance and (groups of) similar species were identified. Significant data gaps were revealed for natural mortality and lifespan, for most of the life-history traits of small-eyed (Raja microocellata), shagreen (Leucoraja fullonica), and sandy (Leucoraja circularis) ray, and specifically for the English Channel and Bay of Biscay. The common skate complex (Dipturus batis complex) and white (Rostroraja alba) skate were found to be different from the rest of the species due to their larger sizes, relatively slow growth, and late maturity, which may make them more vulnerable to overexploitation, while the Raja spp. and Leucoraja spp. rays tend to be smaller species growing at faster rates. Growth and reproductive life-history should be considered as vulnerability to disturbance proxies, be used to update/establish management measures (i.e. minimum size) and enhance the stock assessment predictive ability (i.e. length based-indicators). Future research should be directed towards filling important regional data gaps and providing robust estimation for unreported parameters, such as natural mortality.

show abstract

Resource partitioning among sympatric elasmobranchs in the central-western Mediterranean continental shelf

Abstract: Knowledge of the mechanisms that allow coexistence among sympatric species is fundamental to understand ecosystem functioning. Resource partitioning among seven elasmobranchs inhabiting the Sardinian continental shelf (40°07′N, 9°00′E

Cited by 25 publications

References 72 publications

Ontogenetic trophic segregation between two threatened smooth-hound sharks in the Central Mediterranean Sea

Ontogenetic trophic segregation between two threatened smooth-hound sharks in the Central Mediterranean Sea

Bio-Ecological Features Update on Eleven Rare Cartilaginous Fish in the Central-Western Mediterranean Sea as a Contribution for Their Conservation

Life-history traits of batoids (Superorder Batoidea) in the Northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About