Laboratory survival of four prey in the presence of northern pike

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 418-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifford L. K. Robinson

I determined experimentally the relative survival of similar-sized yellow perch (Perca flavescens), brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans), fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), and finescale dace (Phoxinus neogaeus), individually and in all possible species combinations, in the presence of northern pike (Esox lucius). Overall, perch showed the highest, sticklebacks and dace the intermediate, and fatheads the lowest relative survival. Differential laboratory survival of prey demonstrates the utility of single species experiments in predicting the results of multiple prey and predator interactions. The results also support the hypothesis that piscivory can maintain the distinctness of assemblages of predation-tolerant and piscivorous species versus assemblages of predation-intolerant species.

1994 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
pp. 1629-1633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark V. Abrahams

Experiments were conducted with fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) and brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans) to determine whether their relative feeding rates were affected by risk of predation. Six groups of both species were observed foraging for food provided by an automated feeder while two parameters were manipulated: the presence or absence of a predator, yellow perch (Perca flavescens), and clear or turbid water. It was hypothesized that the armour and spines of brook stickleback would be of greatest benefit during a direct encounter with a predator. I attempted to simulate this condition with turbid water and predator present. Feeding rates of the two species were significantly different, with fathead minnow feeding at a greater rate than brook stickleback in the absence of a predator. In the presence of a predator the feeding rate of fathead minnow declined significantly whereas that of brook stickleback was unaffected. This resulted in similar feeding rates for the two species in the presence of a predator. Results demonstrate that risk of predation can alter the relative competitive abilities of two species in situations where one species possesses a morphological adaptation against predation. In the absence of predators, these traits may be detrimental in interspecific competition for food.


1989 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifford L. K. Robinson ◽  
William M. Tonn

We surveyed 45 small lakes in central Alberta to determine if discrete, repeatable types of fish assemblages exist, to identify the main environmental and biotic processes likely responsible for assemblage-level patterns, and to compare and contrast Alberta patterns with those observed in other regions of North America. Overall, 11 species of fish were caught in 36 lakes; nine lakes were fishless. Hierarchical classification and detrended correspondence analysis of fish species presence/absence identified two main assemblage types, characterized by northern pike (Esox lucius) and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) versus brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans) and fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas). Pike/perch lakes were significantly deeper and larger than lakes of the stickleback/fathead assemblage type; however, a subset of the former group lacking yellow perch was environmentally similar to stickleback/fathead lakes. Piscivory by northern pike appears to be the dominant process maintaining nearly complete negative associations between members of the two assemblage types. Despite environmental and faunal-richness differences, our results were not unlike those from southern Ontario and northern Wisconsin. For small boreal lakes of North America, piscivory and processes related to a small number of environmental variables, such as maximum depth, surface area, and isolation, appear to be most important in structuring fish assemblages.


1970 ◽  
Vol 30 (1-8) ◽  
pp. 69-165
Author(s):  
Homer Buck ◽  
Charles F. Thoits

This report is based on several years of intensive studies of the production and related population dynamics of six kinds of warmwater fishes maintained as single species in 1-acre ponds. Species involved included the largemouth bass, Micropteriis salmoides (Lacepede); smallmouth bass, M. dolomieiii Lacepede; bluegill, Lepomis macrochiriis Rafinesque; yellow perch, Perca flavescens (Mitchill); brown bullhead, Ictahiriis uebulosus (LeSueur); and the white crappie, Pomoxis annularis Rafinesque. Most production data published for these species have originated primarily from studies involving complex, multispecies populations. The principal aims of this investigation were to 1 ) increase our knowledge of the carrying capacities of ponds for warmwater fishes, 2) consider the relationship of carrying capacity to standing crop and to rate of production, and 3) measure the influence of controlled population increases and decreases on fish production.


1970 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1059-1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Magnuson ◽  
Duane J. Karlen

A device is described to directly observe fish behavior beneath the ice of a shallow lake. The viewing device, a 1.9-m tall plexiglass tube (14.0 cm inside diameter) sealed at the bottom, worked on the principle of a periscope. It was frozen into place in the center of a net enclosure. A man in a darkened hut lowered a mirror into the tube to observe the fish in the enclosure.Vertical distributions and behavior of 5 adult northern pike (Esox lucius), 6 yellow perch (Perca flavescens), and 13 bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) were compared with the levels of dissolved oxygen, free carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and water temperature. Observations in Mystery Lake, Wisconsin, were from December 29, 1968, through January 30, 1969, during a period when environmental conditions worsened beneath the ice and resulted in a winterkill.Yellow perch were the most active, northern pike the least. Bluegill remained farther beneath the ice than did the other two species. Northern pike took up residence in domes that they formed in the undersurface of the ice. Northern pike and yellow perch frequently sounded into the anoxic layers.We conclude that differences in fish behavior were significant in prolonging survival. A combination of little locomotory activity and a position immediately beneath the ice apparently favored the longer survival of northern pike over bluegill and yellow perch.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (19) ◽  
pp. 11114-11122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan D. Martin ◽  
Paul C. Frost ◽  
Holger Hintelmann ◽  
Karla Newman ◽  
Michael J. Paterson ◽  
...  

1973 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel W. Coble

Northern pike (Esox lucius) were put in tanks with fantail and regular-tail goldfish (Carassius auratus) or with goldfish of different colors. Physical appearance of prey did not affect the pike’s feeding. In experiments in plastic pools four species of fish were exposed to predation by northern pike that were satiated or deprived of food for either 2 or 4 weeks. The pike always selected carp (Cyprinus carpio) and fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) over green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) and bluegill (L. macrochirus).


Behaviour ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (7) ◽  
pp. 929-938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Chivers ◽  
Reehan Mirza ◽  
Jeffery Johnston

AbstractNumerous species of aquatic animals release chemical cues when attacked by a predator. These chemicals serve to warn other conspecifics, and in some cases heterospecifics, of danger, and hence have been termed alarm cues. Responses of animals to alarm cues produced by other species often need to be learned, yet mechanisms of learned recognition of heterospecific cues are not well understood. In this study, we tested whether fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) could learn to recognize a heterospecific alarm cue when it was combined with conspecific alarm cue in the diet of a predator. We exposed fathead minnows to chemical stimuli collected from rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, fed a mixed diet of minnows and brook stickleback, Culaea inconstans, or trout fed a mixed diet of swordtails, Xiphophorous helleri, and stickleback. To test if the minnows had acquired recognition of the heterospecific alarm cues, we exposed them to stickleback alarm cues and introduced an unknown predator, yellow perch (Perca flavescens) or northern pike (Esox lucius). Both perch and pike took longer to initiate an attack on minnows that were previously exposed to trout fed minnows and stickleback than those previously exposed to trout fed swordtails and stickleback. These results demonstrate that minnows can learn to recognize heterospecific alarm cues based on detecting the heterospecific cue in combination with minnow alarm cues in the diet of the predator. Ours is the first study to demonstrate that behavioural responses to heterospecific chemical alarm cues decreases the probability that the prey will be attacked and captured during an encounter with a predator.


1973 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1161-1178 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Nursall

Dense schools of spottail shiners (Notropis hudsonius) are common in shallow water in Beaver Lake, generally 0.25–0.30 m below the surface, with smaller individuals more numerous towards the top. Position in the shcool is maintained by short radius behavior. The course of an individual is maintained by a beat of the tail, a glide, a hesitation, and a change of direction. Each glide path represents the chord of an arc of short radius about some neighbor. Shiners respond to disturbance by flash expansion of loose cruising association. Schooling is obligatory. The black caudal spot is probaly multifunctional as a recognition mark and releaser.Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) show an ontogeny of behavior through young-of-the-year, aggregation-sized perch (aggp), subadults, and adults. They behave as individuals or associate as streams. Disturbance will cause a group of aggp to disperse or to stream. The adult manifestation of streaming is pack-hunting. The activity of one perch attracts the attention of others; this leads to streaming or pack-hunting. Pack-hunting improves the chance of some members of the pack, not necessarily the initiator, capturing active prey, by countering the allaesthetic protean escape reactions of organisms such as the spottail shiner. Large mixed aggregations of spottail shiners and aggp are fortuitous.Northern pike (Esox lucius) are lone, opportunistic predators whose hunting technique combines in sequence motionlessness, axial tracking, and lunging. Prey may be swallowed head- or tailfirst, or sideways.The species studied here show a range of gregariousness, from the solitary pike, through the facultative nonpolarized and polarized schools of perch, to obligate nonpolarized and polarized schools of shiners.


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