Aquatic Macrophytes Shape the Foraging Efficiency, Trophic Niche Breadth, and Overlap among Small Fish in a Neotropical River

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Quirino B. A., Thomaz S. M., Jeppesen E., Sondergaard M., Dainez-Filho M. S., Fugi R.

WATER, cilt.14, sa.21, 2022 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 14 Sayı: 21
  • Basım Tarihi: 2022
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3390/w14213543
  • Dergi Adı: WATER
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Aqualine, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), CAB Abstracts, Compendex, Environment Index, Food Science & Technology Abstracts, Geobase, INSPEC, Pollution Abstracts, Veterinary Science Database, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: fish diet, trophic ecology, feeding habit, habitat complexity, HABITAT STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY, AGE-0 LARGEMOUTH BASS, ROACH RUTILUS-RUTILUS, MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITY, INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION, SUBMERGED MACROPHYTES, PLANKTIVOROUS FISH, JUVENILE BLUEGILL, FOOD-CONSUMPTION, FEEDING ECOLOGY
  • Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

Aquatic macrophytes are generally recognized to influence fish-prey interactions. We assessed how fish consume particular foods, and how their foraging efficiency, trophic niche breadth, and niche overlap respond to gradients of macrophyte density and diversity. We sampled fish and macrophytes in 30 stands distributed over a 13.7 km stretch of the littoral zone of a river in Brazil. By generating generalized linear models, we showed that increasing macrophyte density (from 366 to 7066 g DW m(-3)) favored herbivory and fish foraging efficiency. Beta regressions showed that fish reduced their trophic niche breadth along the gradient of macrophyte density, while niche overlap increased until a certain extent of plant density when species started to segregate the niche more strongly. However, niche breadth responses varied according to the trophic guild considered, with omnivorous and herbivorous fish generally showing opposite responses. Macrophyte diversity was important for the preferred food items of the fish, with stomach contents shifting from higher plants, algae, and detritus to insects with increasing macrophyte diversity. Therefore, in addition to the presumable effects of macrophyte density on resource availability and prey encounter rates, our findings highlight the importance of maintaining diverse macrophyte stands for the conservation of fish diversity.