scholarly journals Effects of fish predation on density and size spectra of prey fish communities in lakes

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 506-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Mehner ◽  
Caroline Keeling ◽  
Matthias Emmrich ◽  
Kerstin Holmgren ◽  
Christine Argillier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Size Structure ◽  
Prey Size ◽  
Fish Communities ◽  
Fish Predation ◽  
Prey Fish ◽  
Benthivorous Fish ◽  
Size Spectra ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Piscivorous Fish ◽  
Predation Effects

Planktivorous and benthivorous fish have been documented to influence the density and size structure of their prey communities in lakes. We hypothesized that piscivorous fish modify their prey fish communities in the same way and sought to find evidence for such predation effects from a comparison across 356 lakes located in nine European ecoregions. We categorized individual fish as being piscivore, nonpiscivore, or prey of piscivores, depending on species and individual size. We calculated piscivore, nonpiscivore, and piscivore prey densities, respectively, and fit linear abundance size spectra (SS) on lake-specific piscivore, nonpiscivore, and piscivore-prey size distributions. Multiple linear regressions were calculated to quantify the effect of piscivore density and SS slopes on nonpiscivore and piscivore-prey densities and SS slopes by accounting for potentially confounding factors arising from lake morphometry, productivity, and local air temperature. Piscivore density correlated positively with piscivore-prey density but was uncorrelated with density of nonpiscivores. Across a subset of 76 lakes for which SS slopes of piscivores were statistically significant, SS slopes of piscivores were uncorrelated with SS slopes of either nonpiscivores or piscivore prey. However, densities of piscivores, nonpiscivores, or piscivore prey were a significant negative predictor of SS slopes of the respective groups. Our analyses suggest that direct predation effects by piscivorous fish on density and size structure of prey fish communities are weak in European lakes, likely caused by low predator–prey size ratios and the resulting size refuges for prey fish. In contrast, competition may substantially contribute to between-lake variability in fish density and size.

A new look at the Lake Superior biomass size spectrum

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (9) ◽  
pp. 1324-1333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peder M. Yurista ◽  
Daniel L. Yule ◽  
Matt Balge ◽  
Jon D. VanAlstine ◽  
Jo A. Thompson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Size Structure ◽  
Lake Superior ◽  
Size Spectrum ◽  
Prey Fish ◽  
Size Spectra ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Multiple Sampling ◽  
Acoustic Surveys ◽  
Pelagic Prey ◽  
Polynomial Regressions

We synthesized data from multiple sampling programs and years to describe the Lake Superior pelagic biomass size structure. Data consisted of Coulter counts for phytoplankton, optical plankton counts for zooplankton, and acoustic surveys for pelagic prey fish. The size spectrum was stable across two time periods separated by 5 years. The primary scaling or overall slope of the normalized biomass size spectra for the combined years was −1.113, consistent with a previous estimate for Lake Superior (−1.10). Periodic dome structures within the overall biomass size structure were fit to polynomial regressions based on the observed sub-domes within the classical taxonomic positions (algae, zooplankton, and fish). This interpretation of periodic dome delineation was aligned more closely with predator–prey size relationships that exist within the zooplankton (herbivorous, predacious) and fish (planktivorous, piscivorous) taxonomic positions. Domes were spaced approximately every 3.78 log10 units along the axis and with a decreasing peak magnitude of −4.1 log10 units. The relative position of the algal and herbivorous zooplankton domes predicted well the subsequent biomass domes for larger predatory zooplankton and planktivorous prey fish.

Comparison and utility of different size-based metrics of fish communities for detecting fishery impacts

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 810-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel E Duplisea ◽  
Martin Castonguay
Keyword(s):  
Standing Stock ◽  
Fish Communities ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Size Spectrum ◽  
Size Spectra ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Similar Information ◽  
Chance Events ◽  
Length Frequency Analysis ◽  
Scientific Survey

The use of fish community indicators based on size spectra has become popular in the development of an ecosystem approach to fisheries. Size spectrum theory arose from basic ecological work on energy flow, predator–prey interactions, and biomass standing stock and was later applied to fish communities as length–frequency analysis. A multitude of size spectrum indicators have resulted, but it is not clear if they all present similar information. Here we develop a simple framework describing what four size spectra indicators suggest about fish communities, their likely response to fisheries exploitation, their ecological interpretation, and some of their biases. We examined indicators for scientific survey data from six exploited North Atlantic fish communities for the information that they reveal about each community. Each indicator revealed different information and had different biases. Combining indicators for the most impacted system (owing to fisheries and environmental change), the eastern Scotian Shelf, revealed a pattern analogous to Holling's ecological cycle of exploitation, conservation, release, and reorganisation. If this analogy is generally valid, then it suggests that collapsed fish communities are more susceptible to chance events, and recovery is not directly reversible and may not be recoverable (to previous known state) at all if the system moves to an alternative cycle.

scholarly journals Fish life history dynamics: shifts in prey size structure evoke shifts in predator maturation traits

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 693-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Shuter ◽  
Henrique C. Giacomini ◽  
Derrick de Kerckhove ◽  
Kris Vascotto
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Prey Size ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Size Ratio ◽  
Size Spectrum ◽  
Lower Growth ◽  
Predator Prey

A bioenergetic framework is developed to predict optimal life history responses to environmentally driven changes in the rate of energy production by a predator. This framework is used to predict the responses of age at maturation, size at maturation, and asymptotic size to changes in the predator–prey size ratio. Predators feeding on relatively smaller prey (i.e., having larger predator–prey size ratios) have lower growth efficiency and are predicted as a consequence to mature earlier, at smaller sizes, and reach smaller asymptotic sizes. This prediction was tested using a 78-year time series (1936–2013) of data from a natural population of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in Lake Opeongo, Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada. A large decrease in the predator–prey size ratio for this population occurred over the period 1950–1965 when a preferred prey (cisco, Coregonus artedii) was introduced to the lake. This decrease was followed by ∼20 years of constancy in the size ratio and then 25 years of progressive increase. Lake trout life history responded plastically during both periods and consistently with our predictions. Extensive analysis of available data provided little empirical support for alternative explanations for the observed changes in lake trout size and maturity (e.g., changes in cisco and (or) lake trout density and harvest rates). The framework developed here derives plastic life history changes from fixed developmental thresholds that are based on the scaling of net production with body size and can be used to predict the shape of maturation reaction norms for the major shifts in community structure that are compactly summarized by changes in size spectrum parameters.

scholarly journals Running the gauntlet: the predation environment of small fish in the northern Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada

2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel E. Duplisea
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Prey Size ◽  
Small Fish ◽  
Size Spectra ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
The North ◽  
Prefer Prey ◽  
Seal Population ◽  
The North Sea

Abstract Predation size spectra were constructed for the northern Gulf of St Lawrence, covering prey size ranges that include pre-recruit cod. Predation by fish and harp seals was modelled with a log-normally distributed predator–prey size ratio along with a relationship between predator body size and the energy required. Fish concentrate predation on prey of weight 0.5–2 g, whereas harp seals prefer prey of 60–125 g. It is speculated that predation caused by harp seals on pre-recruits could be a major factor limiting cod recruitment in the system. The northern Gulf of St Lawrence is a cold boreal system with a large predatory seal population, and cod recruit older than elsewhere. Therefore, cod recruitment may be more strongly affected by predation in the northern Gulf of St Lawrence than in warmer systems such as the North Sea, where recruitment is strongly influenced by temperature.

Systematic deviations from linear size spectra of lake fish communities are correlated with predator-prey interactions and lake-use intensity

Oikos ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 128 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignasi Arranz ◽  
Chih-hao Hsieh ◽  
Thomas Mehner ◽  
Sandra Brucet
Keyword(s):  
Fish Communities ◽  
Linear Size ◽  
Size Spectra ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Lake Fish Communities ◽  
Lake Fish

Size Spectrum Theory

2019 ◽  
pp. 15-37
Author(s):  
Ken H. Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Clearance Rate ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Prey Size ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Size Spectrum ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Predation Mortality ◽  
Size Preference

This chapter follows the size-structure of the entire marine ecosystem. It shows how the Sheldon spectrum emerges from predator–prey interactions and the limitations that physics and physiology place on individual organisms. How predator–prey interactions and physiological limitations scale with body size are the central assumptions in size spectrum theory. To that end, this chapter first defines body size and size spectrum. Next, it shows how central aspects of individual physiology scale with size: metabolism, clearance rate, and prey size preference. On that basis, it is possible to derive a power-law representation of the size spectrum by considering a balance between the needs of an organism (its metabolism) and the encountered prey, which is determined by the spectrum, the clearance rate, and the size preference. Lastly, the chapter uses the solution of the size spectrum to derive the expected size scaling of predation mortality.

The Behavioural Basis of Predator-Prey Size Relationships Between Shrimp (Crangon Crangon) and Juvenile Plaice (Pleuronectes Platessa)

1995 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.N. Gibson ◽  
M.C. Yin ◽  
L. Robb
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Prey Size ◽  
Predation Rate ◽  
Sandy Beaches ◽  
Fish Length ◽  
Crangon Crangon ◽  
Prey Fish ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Pleuronectes Platessa ◽  
Stomach Volume

The shrimp, Crangon crangon (L.) (Crustacea: Crangonidae), is a significant predator of the smallest sizes of plaice, Pleuronectes platessa L. (Teleostei: Pleuronectidae), during and immediately after the fish settle on sandy beaches when predation rate is strongly dependent on the size of both the predator and the prey. Laboratory experiments showed that this size-dependency is caused principally by the superior escape capabilities of larger fish once captured rather than differences in the ability of different sizes of shrimps to capture their prey. Fish that escape after capture are often wounded and some of these wounds may subsequently be fatal. Many shrimps capture and eat fish that are larger than their stomach volume resulting in long handling times and low prey profitabilities. For all sizes of shrimps used (36–65 mm total length) prey profitability (mg prey ingested min−1) increases with decreasing fish length.

scholarly journals Fishing degrades size structure of coral reef fish communities

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
James PW Robinson ◽  
Ivor D Williams ◽  
Andrew M Edwards ◽  
Jana McPherson ◽  
Lauren Yeager ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Reef Fish ◽  
Fish Community ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Fish Communities ◽  
Fish Biomass ◽  
Community Size ◽  
Size Spectra ◽  
Coral Reef Ecosystems ◽  
Total Fish

Fishing pressure on coral reef ecosystems has been frequently linked to reductions of large fishes and reef fish biomass. Associated impacts on overall community structure are, however, less clear. In size-structured aquatic ecosystems, fishing impacts are commonly quantified using size spectra, which describe the distribution of individual body sizes within a community. We examined the size spectra of coral reef fish communities at 38 US-affiliated Pacific islands, spanning from near pristine to highly human populated. Reef fish community size spectra slopes ‘steepened’ steadily with increasing human population and proximity to market due to a reduction in the relative biomass of large fishes and an increase in the dominance of small fishes. In contrast, total fish community biomass was substantially lower on inhabited islands than uninhabited ones, regardless of human population density. Comparing the relationship between size spectra and reef fish biomass, we found that on populated islands size spectra steepened linearly with declining biomass, whereas on uninhabited islands size spectra and biomass were unrelated. Size spectra slopes also were steeper in regions of low sea surface temperature but were insensitive to variation in other environmental and geomorphic covariates. In contrast, reef fish biomass was highly sensitive to biophysical conditions, being influenced by oceanic productivity, sea surface temperature, island type, and habitat complexity. Our results suggest that community size structure is more robust than total fish biomass to increasing human presence and that size spectra are reliable indicators of exploitation impacts across regions of different fish community compositions, environmental drivers, and fisheries types. Size-based approaches that link directly to functional properties of fish communities, and are relatively insensitive to abiotic variation across biogeographic regions, offer great potential for developing our understanding of fishing impacts in coral reef ecosystems.

Regional ecosystem variability drives the relative importance of bottom-up and top-down factors for zooplankton size spectra

2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 516-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerri Finlay ◽  
Beatrix E Beisner ◽  
Alain Patoine ◽  
Bernadette Pinel-Alloul
Keyword(s):  
Pareto Distribution ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Fish Predation ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Lake Productivity ◽  
Size Spectra ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Zooplankton Size ◽  
Fish Species Composition ◽  
Zooplankton Communities

The relative effects of top-down and bottom-up drivers of zooplankton size structure were examined in three limnologically diverse regions of Quebec, Canada. Lake productivity drove biomass of small-sized zooplankton (300–1000 µm) in the Eastern Townships and Laurentian regions, which have high total phosphorus gradients, but was not significant in the low-productivity region, Gouin. Fish species composition was found to affect biomass of large-sized (>1000 µm) zooplankton and was the primary factor affecting zooplankton size structure in the low productivity region. When size structure of the zooplankton communities were described as normalized biomass size spectra, only bottom-up factors were significant, as increasing productivity resulted in higher curve peaks and increased parabola curvature. No factors were significantly related to any parameter of the Pareto distribution to describe size spectra. Overall, bottom-up forces were stronger drivers of zooplankton size structure, particularly in regions with wide ranges in lake trophy, while fish predation was more important in regions with low productivity variability.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document