scholarly journals Prey preferences of juvenile whelk Neptunea arthritica (Gastropoda: Buccinidae) in Hakodate Bay, Hokkaido, Japan

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-265
Author(s):  
Ryusei Yamakami ◽  
Satoshi Wada
Keyword(s):  
Prey Preferences

Ecological and environmental factors affecting the foraging activity of the White-bellied Heron Ardea insignis (Hume, 1878) in Bhutan

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
PEMA KHANDU ◽  
GEORGE A. GALE ◽  
SARA BUMRUNGSRI
Keyword(s):  
Relative Abundance ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Catch Per Unit Effort ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Prey Biomass ◽  
Gravel Mining ◽  
Unit Effort ◽  
Prey Preferences ◽  
The Government

Summary White-bellied Heron Ardea insignis (WBH) is critically endangered, but we lack data on many aspects of its basic ecology and threats to the species are not clearly understood. The goal of this study was to analyse WBH foraging microhabitat selection, foraging behaviour, and prey preferences in two river basins (Punatsangchhu and Mangdechhu) in Bhutan which are likely home to one of the largest remaining populations of WBH. We also explored the relationship between the relative abundance of the WBH and prey biomass catch per unit effort within four foraging river microhabitats (pool, pond, riffle and run). Prey species were sampled in 13 different 100-m thalweg lengths of the rivers using cast nets and electrofishing gear. Riffles and pools were the most commonly used microhabitats; relative abundance was the highest in riffles. The relative abundance of WBH and prey biomass catch per unit effort (CPUE) also showed a weak but significant positive correlation (rs = 0.22). The highest biomass CPUE was observed in riffles while the lowest was found in the ponds. From the 97 prey items caught by the WBH, 95% of the prey were fish. The WBH mainly exploited three genera of fish (Garra, Salmo, and Schizothorax) of which Schizothorax (64%) was the most frequently consumed. This study provides evidence in support of further protection of critical riverine habitat and fish resources for this heron. Regular monitoring of sand and gravel mining, curbing illegal fishing, habitat restoration/mitigation, and developing sustainable alternatives for local people should be urgently implemented by the government and other relevant agencies. Further study is also required for understanding the seasonal variation and abundance of its prey species in their prime habitats along the Punatsangchhu and Mangdechhu basins.

PREY PREFERENCES OF ADULT AND IMMATURE ZETZELLIA MALI EWING (ACARI: STIGMAEIDAE) AND TYPHLODROMUS CAUDIGLANS SCHUSTER (ACARI: PHYTOSEIIDAE)

1993 ◽  
Vol 125 (5) ◽  
pp. 967-969 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Clements ◽  
Rudolf Harmsen
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Panonychus Ulmi ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
Apple Orchards ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Phytoseiid Mites ◽  
Prey Preferences ◽  
Eriophyid Mites

Effective management of the interactions within the mite community is critical to biological control of economically damaging phytophagous mites such as Panonychus ulmi Koch (Tetranychidae) (Clements and Harmsen 1990). Although much is known about the potential role of phytoseiid mites in controlling P. ulmi (Dover et al. 1979), mites from at least seven other families may be present in apple orchards (Thistlewood 1991). Stigmaeid mites are predators which may play a beneficial role in biological control in conjunction with phytoseiids (Clements and Harmsen 1992). Eriophyid mites are phytophagous but seldom cause economic damage, and may compete with tetranychids and provide alternative food for predators of tetranychids (Croft and Hoying 1977).

scholarly journals Prey Preferences of the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia): Regional Diet Specificity Holds Global Significance for Conservation

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. e88349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvador Lyngdoh ◽  
Shivam Shrotriya ◽  
Surendra P. Goyal ◽  
Hayley Clements ◽  
Matthew W. Hayward ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Snow Leopard ◽  
Prey Preferences ◽  
Panthera Uncia

scholarly journals Snow Leopard Dietary Preferences and Livestock Predation Revealed by Fecal DNA Metabarcoding: No Evidence for Apparent Competition Between Wild and Domestic Prey

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Lu ◽  
Lingyun Xiao ◽  
Chen Cheng ◽  
Zhi Lu ◽  
Jindong Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dietary Habits ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Apparent Competition ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Snow Leopard ◽  
Livestock Predation ◽  
Prey Preferences ◽  
Livestock Density ◽  
Dna Metabarcoding ◽  
Snow Leopards

Accurate assessments of the patterns and drivers of livestock depredation by wild carnivores are vital for designing effective mitigation strategies to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Snow leopard’s (Panthera uncia) range extensively overlaps pastoralist land-use and livestock predation there is widely reported, but the ecological determinants of livestock consumption by snow leopards remain obscure. We investigated snow leopard dietary habits at seven sites across the Sanjiangyuan region of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP), an area central to the species’ global range. Snow leopard abundance, wild prey composition, and livestock density varied among those sites, thus allowing us to test the effects of various factors on snow leopard diet and livestock predation. Using DNA metabarcoding, we obtained highly resolved dietary data from 351 genetically verified snow leopard fecal samples. We then analyzed the prey preferences of snow leopards and examined ecological factors related to their livestock consumption. Across the sites, snow leopard prey was composed mainly of wild ungulates (mean = 81.5% of dietary sequences), particularly bharal (Pseudois nayaur), and supplemented with livestock (7.62%) and smaller mammals (marmots, pikas, mice; 10.7%). Snow leopards showed a strong preference for bharal, relative to livestock, based on their densities. Interestingly, both proportional and total livestock consumption by snow leopards increased linearly with local livestock biomass, but not with livestock density. That, together with a slight negative relationship with bharal density, supports apparent facilitation between wild and domestic prey. We also found a significant positive correlation between population densities of snow leopard and bharal, yet those densities showed slight negative relationships with livestock density. Our results highlight the importance of sufficient wild ungulate abundance to the conservation of viable snow leopard populations. Additionally, livestock protection is critically needed to reduce losses to snow leopard depredation, especially where local livestock abundances are high.

scholarly journals Prey morphology and predator sociality drive predator prey preferences

2016 ◽  
Vol 97 (3) ◽  
pp. 919-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayley S. Clements ◽  
Craig J. Tambling ◽  
Graham I. H. Kerley
Keyword(s):  
Predator Prey ◽  
Prey Preferences

Detecting Prey Preferences and Prey Switching

2021 ◽  
pp. 89-100
Author(s):  
John P. DeLong
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Prey Choice ◽  
Prey Switching ◽  
Prey Preferences ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Simplified Analysis

In this chapter I consider the question of whether predators switch their preference for different types of prey as those prey change in abundance. There are numerous experiments in the literature focusing on this, but generally they have focused on a simplified analysis that ignores the functional response. Here I show why the functional response is crucial for understanding prey choice, and I show that null expectations considering a multi-species functional response lead to different interpretations than standard null expectations. I also derive null expectations for the proportion of prey consumed given the single-species functional response.

scholarly journals Mobulid rays feed on euphausiids in the Bohol Sea

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 161060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph A. Rohner ◽  
Katherine B. Burgess ◽  
Joshua M. Rambahiniarison ◽  
Joshua D. Stewart ◽  
Alessandro Ponzo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Stomach Contents ◽  
Fishing Effort ◽  
Fishing Activity ◽  
Prey Preferences ◽  
Manta Birostris ◽  
History Of ◽  
By Catch ◽  
Mobula Japanica

Mobulid rays have a conservative life history and are caught in direct fisheries and as by-catch. Their subsequent vulnerability to overexploitation has recently been recognized, but fisheries management can be ineffective if it ignores habitat and prey preferences and other trophic interactions of the target species. Here, we assessed the feeding ecology of four mobulids ( Manta birostris , Mobula tarapacana , M. japanica , M. thurstoni ) in the Bohol Sea, Philippines, using stomach contents analysis of fisheries specimens landed between November and May in 2013–2015. We show that the mobulids feed heavily on euphausiid krill while they are in the area for approximately six months of the year. We found almost no trophic separation among the mobulid species, with Euphausia diomedeae as the major prey item for all species, recorded in 81 of 89 total stomachs (91%). Mobula japanica and M. thurstoni almost exclusively had this krill in their stomach, while M. tarapacana had a squid and fish, and Ma. birostris had myctophid fishes and copepods in their stomachs in addition to E. diomedeae . This krill was larger than prey for other planktivorous elasmobranchs elsewhere and contributed a mean of 61 364 kcal per stomach (±105 032 kcal s.e., range = 0–631 167 kcal). Our results show that vertically migrating mesopelagic species can be an important food resource for large filter feeders living in tropical seas with oligotrophic surface waters. Given the conservative life history of mobulid rays, the identification of common foraging grounds that overlap with fishing activity could be used to inform future fishing effort.

Identification of trophic niches of subterranean diving beetles in a calcrete aquifer by DNA and stable isotope analyses

2014 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tessa M. Bradford ◽  
William F. Humphreys ◽  
Andrew D. Austin ◽  
Steven J. B. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Trophic Ecology ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Niche Differentiation ◽  
Trophic Niche ◽  
Coi Gene ◽  
Stable Isotope Analyses ◽  
Prey Preferences ◽  
Diving Beetles ◽  
Isotope Analyses

The Yilgarn calcrete aquifers in Western Australia are an interesting system for investigating the process of speciation within subterranean habitats, because of the limited opportunities for dispersal between isolated calcretes. The presence of different-sized diving beetles (Dytiscidae) in separate calcretes, including sympatric sister-species pairs, suggests that species may have evolved within calcretes by an adaptive shift as a result of ecological-niche differentiation. We have studied the potential for trophic niche partitioning in a sister triplet of diving beetles, of distinctly different sizes, from a single aquifer. Fragments of the mitochondrial COI gene, specific to known species of amphipods and copepods, were polymerase chain reaction-amplified from each of the three beetle species, indicating that there is an overlap in their prey items. Significant differences were found in the detected diets of the three species, and results showed a propensity for prey preferences of amphipods by the large beetles and one species of copepod for the small beetles. A terrestrial source of carbon to the calcrete was suggested by stable isotope analyses. The combined approach of molecular, stable isotope and behavioural studies have provided insight into the trophic ecology of this difficult-to-access environment, providing a framework for more fine-scale analyses of the diet of different-sized species to examine speciation underground.

scholarly journals A novel metric reveals biotic resistance potential and informs predictions of invasion success

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross N. Cuthbert ◽  
Amanda Callaghan ◽  
Jaimie T. A. Dick
Keyword(s):  
Biotic Resistance ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Invasion Success ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Predictive Capacity ◽  
Prey Switching ◽  
Prey Preferences ◽  
Ecological Concepts ◽  
Frequency Independent

Abstract Invasive species continue to proliferate and detrimentally impact ecosystems on a global scale. Whilst impacts are well-documented for many invaders, we lack tools to predict biotic resistance and invasion success. Biotic resistance from communities may be a particularly important determinant of the success of invaders. The present study develops traditional ecological concepts to better understand and quantify biotic resistance. We quantified predation towards the highly invasive Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus and a representative native mosquito Culex pipiens by three native and widespread cyclopoid copepods, using functional response and prey switching experiments. All copepods demonstrated higher magnitude type II functional responses towards the invasive prey over the analogous native prey, aligned with higher attack and maximum feeding rates. All predators exhibited significant, frequency-independent prey preferences for the invader. With these results, we developed a novel metric for biotic resistance which integrates predator numerical response proxies, revealing differential biotic resistance potential among predators. Our results are consistent with field patterns of biotic resistance and invasion success, illustrating the predictive capacity of our methods. We thus propose the further development of traditional ecological concepts, such as functional responses, numerical responses and prey switching, in the evaluation of biotic resistance and invasion success.

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