scholarly journals Size Matters, but Species Do Not: No Evidence for Species-Specific Swimming Performance in Co-Occurring Great Basin Stream Fishes

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 2570
Author(s):  
John R. Aedo ◽  
Keith R. Otto ◽  
Russell B. Rader ◽  
Rollin H. Hotchkiss ◽  
Mark C. Belk
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Habitat Use ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Swimming Performance ◽  
Fish Passage ◽  
Stream Fishes ◽  
Species Identity ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Critical Measure ◽  
Species Specific

For fishes, swimming performance is an important predictor of habitat use and a critical measure for the design of effective fish passage systems. Few studies have examined burst and prolonged types of swimming performance among several co-occurring species, and swimming performance in many fish communities is undocumented. In this study, we characterize both burst (c-start velocity) and prolonged speed (critical swim speed) across a poorly documented, co-occurring group of stream fishes within the Great Basin of the western USA. We documented the variation in swim speed associated with species, habitat, and body size. Body size had an overwhelming effect on both burst speed and prolonged speed, whereas habitat use and species identity were not significant predictors. Among species, there is no evidence of a trade-off between burst swim speed and prolonged swim speed. Lack of a trade-off in performance between burst swim speed and prolonged swim speed among species may be due to unexpectedly high prolonged swim speeds exhibited by species that used substrate-bracing behaviors. Incorporating body size and variation in behavior, such as substrate-bracing behaviors, into fish passage models will likely be sufficient to ensure the passage of all species without the need to account for species-specific swimming abilities. However, these results characterize the swimming performance for threatened and common fish species such that other comparisons can be made and species-specific studies can access accurate data.

scholarly journals Resolving the roles of body size and species identity in driving functional diversity

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1781) ◽  
pp. 20133203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker H. W. Rudolf ◽  
Nick L. Rasmussen ◽  
Christopher J. Dibble ◽  
Benjamin G. Van Allen
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Size Effects ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Ecological Interactions ◽  
Species Identity ◽  
Functional Differences ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Natural Communities

Efforts to characterize food webs have generated two influential approaches that reduce the complexity of natural communities. The traditional approach groups individuals based on their species identity, while recently developed approaches group individuals based on their body size. While each approach has provided important insights, they have largely been used in parallel in different systems. Consequently, it remains unclear how body size and species identity interact, hampering our ability to develop a more holistic framework that integrates both approaches. We address this conceptual gap by developing a framework which describes how both approaches are related to each other, revealing that both approaches share common but untested assumptions about how variation across size classes or species influences differences in ecological interactions among consumers. Using freshwater mesocosms with dragonfly larvae as predators, we then experimentally demonstrate that while body size strongly determined how predators affected communities, these size effects were species specific and frequently nonlinear, violating a key assumption underlying both size- and species-based approaches. Consequently, neither purely species- nor size-based approaches were adequate to predict functional differences among predators. Instead, functional differences emerged from the synergistic effects of body size and species identity. This clearly demonstrates the need to integrate size- and species-based approaches to predict functional diversity within communities.

scholarly journals Swimming performance of sauger (Sander canadensis) in relation to fish passage

2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (12) ◽  
pp. 2035-2044 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Dockery ◽  
Thomas E. McMahon ◽  
Kevin M. Kappenman ◽  
Matthew Blank
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Habitat Fragmentation ◽  
Water Temperature ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Open Channel ◽  
Swimming Performance ◽  
Fish Passage ◽  
Migratory Species ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Burst Swimming

A lack of information on the swimming abilities of sauger (Sander canadensis), a highly migratory species particularly sensitive to habitat fragmentation, may inhibit the design of effective passage structures for this species. Passage success, maximum ascent distances, and maximum sprint velocities of sauger were estimated in an open-channel flume over a range of water velocities (51, 78, and 92 cm·s−1) and temperatures (10.0, 14.3, and 18.3 °C) to assess swimming performance. Passage success was high (91%) over all test velocities, as was the maximum instantaneous burst velocity (219 cm·s−1). Water temperature and body size had little effect on swimming performance. Sauger transitioned from steady, sustained swimming to unsteady, burst–glide, or steady burst swimming at 97 cm·s−1. Sauger were capable of sustained sprints of 124 cm·s−1 over 15 s duration in a swim chamber. Results suggest passage structures with water velocities less than 97 cm·s−1 should provide high probability of successful passage of adult sauger, whereas structures with water velocities exceeding 219 cm·s−1 may be impassable.

Species identity matters: Functional responses to warming in congeneric turfs differ from those of a canopy algae but are species-specific

2021 ◽  
pp. 107396
Author(s):  
Isabella Provera ◽  
Cristina Piñeiro-Corbeira ◽  
Rodolfo Barreiro ◽  
Laura Díaz-Acosta ◽  
Pilar Díaz-Tapia
Keyword(s):  
Functional Responses ◽  
Species Identity ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Canopy Algae

Prey Body Size and Ranking in Zooarchaeology: Theory, Empirical Evidence, and Applications from the Northern Great Basin

2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Broughton ◽  
Michael D. Cannon ◽  
Frank E. Bayham ◽  
David A. Byers
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Diet Breadth ◽  
Foraging Theory ◽  
Return Rate ◽  
The Body ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Large Prey ◽  
Abundance Indices ◽  
Game Hunting

The use of body size as an index of prey rank in zooarchaeology has fostered a widely applied approach to understanding variability in foraging efficiency. This approach has, however, been critiqued—most recently by the suggestion that large prey have high probabilities of failed pursuits. Here, we clarify the logic and history of using body size as a measure of prey rank and summarize empirical data on the body size-return rate relationship. With few exceptions, these data document strong positive relationships between prey size and return rate. We then illustrate, with studies from the Great Basin, the utility of body size-based abundance indices (e.g., the Artiodactyl Index) when used as one component of multidimensional analyses of prehistoric diet breadth. We use foraging theory to derive predictions about Holocene variability in diet breadth and test those predictions using the Artiodactyl Index and over a dozen other archaeological indices. The results indicate close fits between the predictions and the data and thus support the use of body size-based abundance indices as measures of foraging efficiency. These conclusions have implications for reconstructions of Holocene trends in large game hunting in western North America and for zooarchaeological applications of foraging theory in general.

Explaining variability in parasite aggregation levels among host samples

Parasitology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 140 (4) ◽  
pp. 541-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT POULIN
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Host Susceptibility ◽  
Helminth Parasites ◽  
Susceptibility To Infection ◽  
Host Body ◽  
Parasite Aggregation ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Host Body Size

SUMMARYAggregated distributions among individual hosts are a defining feature of metazoan parasite populations. Heterogeneity among host individuals in exposure to parasites or in susceptibility to infection is thought to be the main factor generating aggregation, with properties of parasites themselves explaining some of the variability in aggregation levels observed among species. Here, using data from 410 samples of helminth parasites on fish hosts, I tested the contribution of (i) within-sample variation in host body size, taken as a proxy for variability in host susceptibility, and (ii) parasite taxon and developmental stage, to the aggregated distribution of parasites. Log-transformed variance in numbers of parasites per host was regressed against log mean number across all samples; the strong relationship (r2 = 0·88) indicated that aggregation levels are tightly constrained by mean infection levels, and that only a small proportion of the observed variability in parasite aggregation levels remains to be accounted for by other factors. Using the residuals of this regression as measures of ‘unexplained’ aggregation, a mixed effects model revealed no significant effect of within-sample variation in host body size or of parasite taxon or stage (i.e. juvenile versus adult) on parasite aggregation level within a sample. However, much of the remaining variability in parasite aggregation levels among samples was accounted for by the number of individual hosts examined per sample, and species-specific and study-specific effects reflecting idiosyncrasies of particular systems. This suggests that with most differences in aggregation among samples already explained, there may be little point in seeking universal causes for the remaining variation.

Swimming performance of brown trout and grayling show species‐specific responses to changes in temperature

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-246
Author(s):  
Annette Taugbøl ◽  
Kjetil Olstad ◽  
Kim Magnus Bærum ◽  
Jon Museth
Keyword(s):  
Brown Trout ◽  
Swimming Performance ◽  
Species Specific

An association between ear and tail morphologies of bats and their foraging style

2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Gardiner ◽  
Jonathan R. Codd ◽  
Robert L. Nudds
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Foraging Strategy ◽  
Aerodynamic Performance ◽  
Variance Analysis ◽  
Flight Performance ◽  
Wing Membrane ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Scaling Relationships ◽  
Membrane Morphology ◽  
Foraging Flight

Most studies relating bat morphology to flight ecology have concentrated on the wing membrane. Here, canonical variance analysis showed that the ear and tail morphologies of bats also strongly relate to foraging strategy, which in turn is correlated with flight style. Variations in tail membrane morphology are likely to be a trade-off between increases in the mechanical cost of flight and improvements in foraging and flight performance. Flying with large ears is also potentially energetically expensive, particularly at high flight speeds. Large ears, therefore, are only likely to be affordable for slow foraging gleaning bat species. Bats with faster foraging flight styles tend to have smaller ears, possibly to cut the overall drag produced and reduce the power required for flight. Variations in the size of ears and tail membranes appear to be driven primarily by foraging strategy and not by body size, because the scaling relationships found are either weak or not significant. Ear size in bats may be a result of a trade-off between acoustic and aerodynamic performance.

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