scholarly journals Influence of food web structure on the growth and bioenergetics of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

2002 ◽  
Vol 59 (10) ◽  
pp. 1593-1605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivano Pazzia ◽  
Marc Trudel ◽  
Mark Ridgway ◽  
Joseph B Rasmussen

In this study, we compared energy budgets of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) populations in contrasting food webs. Nonpiscivorous lake trout (NPLT) reached a much smaller size and grew at a much slower rate than piscivorous lake trout (PLT) populations. Food consumption rates were, on average, 2–3 times higher in NPLT when they were expressed on a wet weight basis. However, only a slight (less than 10%) difference in their energy intake was detected once consumption rates were corrected for differences in prey caloric content. Growth efficiency was approximately two times lower in NPLT compared with PLT, while their metabolic costs were higher and their assimilation efficiency was lower. It is most likely that the increased metabolic costs were associated with higher foraging costs, since more feeding attempts must be made to acquire a given quantity of food when fish are feeding on smaller prey. Furthermore, the portion of indigestible matter is likely to be higher in the diet of NPLT than in PLT (i.e., chitin vs. bone). These results are consistent with theoretical models of fish growth that show that lake trout must have access to larger prey, even if they are rare, to reach larger body sizes.

2003 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geneviève R Morinville ◽  
Joseph B Rasmussen

Many salmonids, including brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), contain both anadromous (migrant) and nonanadromous (resident) forms within a population (partial migration). Although partial migration is commonly observed, the mechanisms governing the adoption of migration or residency are poorly understood. We used field estimates of fish growth coupled with in situ estimates of food consumption rates to demonstrate that a trade-off exists between the ability to efficiently exploit local environments (resident approach) and the capacity to capitalize from large-scale environmental heterogeneity (migrant approach). We demonstrate that in the year before migration, migrant brook trout have consumption rates 1.4 times higher than those of resident brook trout. However, migrants have lower growth efficiencies (ratio of growth to consumption) than residents, indicating that migrants have higher metabolic costs. Residents and migrants also differed in their stable carbon isotope signatures (δ13C), a time-integrated measure that has been linked to habitat use. Fish muscle δ13C of migrants was depleted by 1 ± 0.1‰ compared with that of residents, and this could not be explained by any biases introduced by the time of sampling or the size of fish sampled. Our findings thus agree with the notion that a link exists between metabolic costs (efficiency) and the adopted life-history strategy.


1989 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 1531-1538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward A. Trippel ◽  
F. William H. Beamish

Trophic dynamics between lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and cisco (Coregonus artedii) were examined in a set of 10 northwestern Ontario lakes that ranged in conductivity by nearly an order of magnitude. Diets revealed the possibility of interspecific competition for invertebrate prey prior to initiation of piscivory by lake trout at approximately 200 mm fork length (FL). Von Bertalanffy growth equations (based on otolith ages) were used to estimate time to attain this length (1.4–3.0 yr). Contrary to anticipated results, lake trout reached this size more rapidly in lakes with high cisco abundance. Presumably, this relationship was caused by improved food conditions for young trout in some of the more productive waterbodies. However, after removing the collinearity between lake conductivity and nonpiscivorous growth by regression analysis, there was no relationship between the time for lake trout to reach 200 mm and cisco abundance. Piscivorous growth varied (L∞ = 508 to 740 mm) extensively among the 10 populations and was likely a function of growth efficiency from different food sources. Using stepwise multiple regression, 81% of the L∞ variation among lakes was explained by cisco abundance and mean size. Linear regression between L∞ and mean size of trout (but not trout abundance) on conductivity generated significant positive relationships.


1994 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 800-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles P. Madenjian ◽  
Stephen R. Carpenter ◽  
Peter S. Rand

An individual-based model (IBM) was applied to the Lake Michigan rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) population, with the objectives of explaining the observed variation in growth and in polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentration within the population. When variation in prey PCB concentration was incorporated into the model, variability in PCB concentration among individual rainbow trout was fully explained by the IBM. Although number of spawnings and number of years spent in a stream prior to first entering the lake were factors in determining growth, these life history characteristics appeared to have only a minor impact on PCB accumulation rate in rainbow trout. The IBM application to the rainbow trout population was compared with an application to the Lake Michigan lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) population. Modeling results indicated that the lower observed PCB concentrations in rainbow trout compared with lake trout were chiefly due to greater longevity in lake trout. The IBM simulations identified gross growth efficiency, assimilation efficiency of PCBs from food, and diet as other important sources of variability in salmonine PCB concentrations.


Author(s):  
Alexander Gatch ◽  
Dimitry Gorsky ◽  
Zy Biesinger ◽  
Eric Bruestle ◽  
Kelley Lee ◽  
...  

1997 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 1031-1038
Author(s):  
C A Stow ◽  
L J Jackson ◽  
J F Amrhein

We examined data from 1984 to 1994 for five species of Lake Michigan salmonids to explore the relationship between total PCB concentration and percent lipid. When we compared mean species lipid and PCB values, we found a strong linear correlation. When we compared values among individuals, we found modest positive PCB:lipid associations in brown trout (Salmo trutta), chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) collected during spawning, but positive associations were not apparent among nonspawning individuals. Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) exhibited no discernible PCB:lipid relationship. Our results are not incompatible with previous observations that contaminants are differentially partitioned into lipids within a fish, but these results do suggest that lipids are not a major factor influencing contaminant uptake.


1980 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 1989-2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Everett Louis King Jr.

Criteria for the classification of marks inflicted by sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) into nine categories were developed from laboratory studies in an attempt to refine the classification system used in field assessment work. These criteria were based on characteristics of the attachment site that could be identified under field conditions by unaided visual means and by touching the attachment site. Healing of these marks was somewhat variable and was influenced by the size of lamprey, duration of attachment, severity of the wound at lamprey detachment, season and water temperature, and by other less obvious factors. Even under laboratory conditions staging of some wounds was difficult, especially at low water temperatures. If these criteria are to be used effectively and with precision in the field, close examination of individual fish may be required. If the feeding and density of specific year-classes of sea lampreys are to be accurately assessed on an annual basis, close attention to the wound size (as it reflects the size of the lamprey's oral disc) and character of wounds on fish will be required as well as consideration of the season of the year in which they are observed.Key words: sea lamprey, attack marks, lake trout, Great Lakes


1989 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. W. H. Beamish ◽  
J. C. Howlett ◽  
T. E. Medland

Juvenile lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush, of similar size were fed one of three isocaloric diets, each differing in protein and lipid content. Oxygen consumption and swimming performance were measured in a recirculating water flume at intervals throughout the 70-d feeding trials (10 °C). Swimming speed was increased by stepwise velocity increments (5 cm∙s−1) and oxygen consumption was measured at each velocity between 20 and 45 cm∙s−1. Oxygen consumption for a given speed did not differ significantly throughout the feeding trial nor among the diets implying a similarity in the quality and quantity of substrate catabolized for energy. Basal metabolism (0 cm∙s−1) was also independent of diet and feeding interval. Critical swimming speed increased with dietary and carcass protein content to suggest a direct association with muscle mass and number of myofilaments.


1997 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 1299-1305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert France

The purpose of the present study was to determine if riparian deforestation would expose lake surfaces to stronger winds and therefore bring about deepening of thermoclines and resulting habitat losses for cold stenotherms such as lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush). Removal of protective riparian trees through wind blowdown and two wildfires was found to triple the overwater windspeeds and produce thermocline deepening in two lakes at the Experimental Lakes Area. A survey of thermal stratification patterns in 63 northwestern Ontario lakes showed that lakes around which riparian trees had been removed a decade before through either clearcutting or by a wildfire were found to have thermocline depths over 2 m deeper per unit fetch length compared with lakes surrounded by mature forests. Riparian tree removal will therefore exacerbate hypolimnion habitat losses for cold stenotherms that have already been documented to be occurring as a result of lake acidification, eutrophication, and climate warming.


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