Trophic relationships among fish assemblages in a mudflat within Brazilian marine protected area

Abstract

Pessanha et al.: Trophic relationships of fish assemblages 135 Trophic relationships among fish assemblages in a mudflat within Brazilian marine protected areaThe present study on the temporal variations in diet and the trophic guilds of dominant fish species in a tidal mudflat, during the dry and rainy seasons. We aimed at classifying the diet composition of 17 species in the Mamanguape river estuary, northeastern Brazil, identifying the dominant food components and evaluating the effects of seasonality on the guild organization. Diet varied little between species and seasons; during the rainy season, the diets seemed to be more heterogeneous. According to the importance of prey in the diets, 5 primary feeding guilds were identified: (1) Detritivore, (2) Zooplanktivore, (3) Zoobenthivore-epifaune, (4) Zoobenthivore-infaune, and (5) Piscivore. Most fishes fed on a diverse range of food items but relied heavily on the zooplankton preys. Several fish species showed a tendency for a specialised diet, with almost all species showing some degree of opportunistic feeding. A high degree of diet overlap was found among some species; however, the presence of exploitative competition could not be determined. AbstrAct

Do the shallow‐water habitats of a hypersaline tropical estuary act as nursery grounds for fishes?

“…Recent studies (Gning et al., ; Yeager, Layman, & Hammerschlag‐Peyer, ) have reported that consumption of food is important to the maintenance of physiological process in estuarine habitats, owing to the increased energetic costs of living at higher salinities. The plentiful food resources of the estuary facilitate its success across all estuarine zones (Campos, Silva, Sales, Oliveira, & Pessanha, ). Other resident species, such as gobies, were more abundant in the middle zone and their presence was closely associated with both the increased food resources (microphytobenthos) in this zone and the reduced predation risk provided by seagrass beds.…”

Diet and trophic organization of the fish assemblage from the Mamanguape River Estuary, Brazil

“…These differences were mostly observed in abundant species and may indicate opportunistic feeding strategies (Selleslagh & Amara, 2015), according to changes in fauna composition along the saline gradient (Vivier et al, 2010;Selleslagh & Amara, 2015;Whitfield, 2015), ontogenetic changes during fish growth resulting in changes in lifestyle and consequently dietary changes (Luczkoviche et al, 1995), or between dry and rainy season, as noticed in Anchovia clupeoides, Bathygobius soporator, C. latus, E. argenteus and Sciades herzbergii (Campos et al, 2015).…”

“…Similar sample abundances or less were used by other studies to describe diet, trophic ecology or patterns of distribution in fish species (Nagelkerken & Van der Velde, 2004;Hammerschlag et al, 2010;Campos et al, 2015).…”

“…diets at Barra de Mamanguape. Campos et al (2015) studied 17 fish species from Barra do Mamanguape and observed high consumption of zooplankton. Zooplankton may play a fundamental role in the equilibrium of the studied ecosystem, especially considering the high percentage of young individuals of several different species presented in the current study that consumed this category.…”

“…Diet and feeding ecology studies are important to understand ecosystems, as they may elucidate the trophic relationships and, indirectly, the energy flow between species (Yáñez-Arancibia & Nugent, 1977;Hajisamaea et al, 2003;Correa et al, 2011;Campos et al, 2015). This information may also aid ecosystem management, as it can be used to construct trophic models (Elliott et al, 2002;Dantas et al, 2013) or be ____________________ Corresponding editor: Andrés Abitia applied to studies of trophic ecology that include spatial, seasonal and ontogenetic changes in the diet of species (Guedes et al, 2015).…”