scholarly journals Behavioural adaptations of mussels to varying levels of food availability and predation risk

2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Robson ◽  
C. Garcia De Leaniz ◽  
R. P. Wilson ◽  
L. G. Halsey
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Behavioural Adaptations

Interlake variation in growth and size structure of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus): inverse analysis of an individual-based model

1998 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan P Nibbelink ◽  
Stephen R Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Inverse Modeling ◽  
Habitat Structure ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Lepomis Macrochirus ◽  
Habitat Choice ◽  
Selective Predation ◽  
Free Parameters ◽  
Contrasting Habitats

Habitat structure alters food availability and predation risk, thereby directly affecting growth, mortality, and size structure of fish populations. Size structure has often been used to infer patterns of resource abundance and predation. However, food availability and predation risk in contrasting habitats have proven difficult to measure in the field. We use an inverse modeling approach to estimate food availability and habitat choice parameters from changes in length distributions of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). The model suggests that dynamics of bluegill length distributions primarily reflect food availability and habitat choice. Bluegill behavior minimized effects of size-selective predation on size structure. Parameters for food availability and habitat choice were correlated. It was therefore not possible to attain unique estimates of food availability and habitat selection when both were free parameters. However, when one parameter was estimated independently, the other could be identified. In five Wisconsin lakes, seining studies were used to estimate the size at which bluegill switched from littoral to pelagic habitats. Using this measure of switch size in the model, we estimated food availability for bluegill in each lake. These estimates were positively correlated with observed growth (r2 = 0.91), demonstrating the model's ability to estimate food availability.

Ecological drivers of group size in female Alpine chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra

Mammalia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Chirichella ◽  
Andrea Mustoni ◽  
Marco Apollonio
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Energy Intake ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Herd Size ◽  
Rupicapra Rupicapra ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Mammalian Herbivores ◽  
Alpine Chamois

AbstractIn large mammalian herbivores, an increase in herd size not only reduces predation risk but also energy intake. As a consequence, the size of the groups made up by herbivores is often assumed to be the outcome of a trade-off depending on local predation risk and food availability. We studied Alpine chamois (

scholarly journals Evaluating food availability and nest predation risk as sources of bias in aural bird surveys

2010 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 420-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Robertson ◽  
Richard L. Hutto ◽  
Joseph J. Fontaine
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Nest Predation

scholarly journals Food availability and predation risk, rather than intrinsic attributes, are the main factors shaping the reproductive decisions of a long-lived predator

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 892-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Hoy ◽  
Alexandre Millon ◽  
Steve J. Petty ◽  
D. Philip Whitfield ◽  
Xavier Lambin
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Reproductive Decisions ◽  
Main Factors

scholarly journals Can behavioural ecology unite hypotheses for fish recruitment?

2013 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 909-917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Jørgensen ◽  
Anders Frugård Opdal ◽  
Øyvind Fiksen
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Larval Fish ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Selective Predation ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Larval Behaviour ◽  
Fish Recruitment ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Risk Of Predation

Abstract Since the classical works by Hjort linked the survival of early life stages of fish to year-class strength and recruitment, fisheries science has struggled to understand the fate of fish eggs and larvae. Here we discuss how food availability will influence growth and survival of larvae when foraging behaviour is flexible and involves predation risk. We use theory to show that small larval fish with a high risk of predation should nevertheless forage intensely and maintain high growth rates. The implication of this is that food availability is more important to recruitment success than is often assumed from studies of growth rate, since the main effect of low food availability appears as increased predation rates. As larvae develop and grow bigger, they are expected to tailor their behaviour to balance food intake and predation risk, which makes it more probable that environmental fluctuations will cause growth differences. A theoretical framework including larval behaviour thus illustrates how several existing hypotheses, i.e. “bigger is better”, “stage duration”, and “growth-selective predation”, emphasize different aspects of larval success but can be understood more generally and coherently when interpreted in the light of behavioural trade-offs. This may lead to more consistent consideration of larval behaviour in biophysical models of fish recruitment.

Intraspecific variation in diet, growth, and morphology of landlocked Galaxias maculatus during its larval period: the role of food availability and predation risk

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 679 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Barriga ◽  
Miguel Ángel Battini ◽  
Martín García-Asorey ◽  
Cecilia Carrea ◽  
Patricio Jorge Macchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Intraspecific Variation ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Larval Period ◽  
Galaxias Maculatus

scholarly journals Animal body size distribution influences the ratios of nutrients supplied to plants

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (36) ◽  
pp. 22256-22263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth le Roux ◽  
Laura S. van Veenhuisen ◽  
Graham I. H. Kerley ◽  
Joris P. G. M. Cromsigt
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
N:P Ratio ◽  
Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽  
Herbivore Community ◽  
Herbivore Species ◽  
Herbivore Communities ◽  
Average Body

Nutrients released through herbivore feces have the potential to influence plant-available nutrients and affect primary productivity. However, herbivore species use nutrients in set stoichiometric ratios that vary with body size. Such differences in the ratios at which nutrients are used leads to differences in the ratios at which nutrients are deposited through feces. Thus, local environmental factors that affect the average body size of an herbivore community (such as predation risk and food availability) influence the ratios at which fecal nutrients are supplied to plants. Here, we assess the relationship between herbivore body size and the nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratios of herbivore feces. We examine how shifts in the average body size of an herbivore community alter the ratios at which nitrogen and phosphorus are supplied to plants and test whether such differences in the stoichiometry of nutrient supply propagate through plants. We show that dung from larger-bodied herbivores contain lower quantities of phosphorus per unit mass and were higher in N:P ratio. We demonstrate that spatial heterogeneity in visibility (a proxy for predation risk and/or food availability) and rainfall (a proxy for food availability), did not affect the overall amount of feces deposited but led to changes in the average body size of the defecating community. Feces deposited in areas of higher rainfall and reduced visibility originated from larger herbivores and were higher in N:P ratios. This indicates that processes that change the size distribution of herbivore communities, such as predation or size-biased extinction, have the potential to alter the nutrient landscape for plants.

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