Assessing the diet and trophic niche breadth of an omnivorous fish (Glanidium ribeiroi) in subtropical lotic environments: intraspecific and ontogenic responses to spatial variations

Kliemann, Bruna Caroline Kotz; Baldasso, Mara Cristina; Pini, Suelen Fernanda Ranucci; Makrakis, Maristela Cavicchioli; Makrakis, Sérgio; Delariva, Rosilene Luciana

doi:10.1071/mf18149

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…In L. polyphemus, the largest differences in dietary shifts occur between instars >11 and adults, presumably due to stark differences in prosoma width enabling older horseshoe crabs to forage prey types of larger size such as bivalves (Botton & Haskin 1984;Gaines et al 2002;Carmichael et al 2004). In many taxa, it is common for larger conspecific individuals to shift their foraging behavior and resource-use to maintain energy demands compared to their younger counterparts, such as shifting toward larger prey and residing in different habitats (Marques et al 2013;Kliemann et al 2019). In our case, T. tridentatus could exhibit a large directional shift in resource use patterns in instars >12 but, as aforementioned, we did not sample older juvenile and adult crabs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

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Ontogenetic resource use and trophic dynamics of endangered juvenile Tachypleus tridentatus among diversified nursery habitats in the northern Beibu Gulf, China

et al. 2020

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Horseshoe crabs, the most well-known example of "living fossils", are iconic and ecologically important macroinvertebrates in coastal and estuarine ecosystems. Their blood is a crucial resource for manufacturing Limulus or Tachypleus amebocyte lysate to detect bacterial endotoxins or fungal contamination in drug and medical devices. An enhanced understanding of their ecological roles and trophic interactions in the food webs is fundamental to facilitate resource management for the declining populations in Asia. Foraging information of the Asian species, however, is mainly derived from preliminary, scattered reports from a limited number of study locations. In this study, resource utilization, trophic niche dynamics, and trophic interaction of the juvenile tri-spine horseshoe crab, Tachypleus tridentatus (instars 1-12, approximately 0.5-8 years old) across ontogeny was assessed in diversified nursery habitats along the northern Beibu Gulf, China, using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. Our results suggest that: (i) T. tridentatus are ecological generalists given the vast range of carbon isotopic values and trophic niche width estimates exhibited between multiple instar groups; (ii) juvenile T. tridentatus across most habitat types predominantly assimilated energy from a variety of basal production sources in the food web, but primarily depended on sedimentary organic matter and seagrass resource pools; (iii) ontogenetic shifts in juvenile dietary proportions were evident, with decreased reliance on sedimentary organic matter, coupled with increased reliance on benthic macroinvertebrate grazers, detritivores, and omnivores with age; and (iv) nearly all juvenile instars occupied similar trophic positions in the food web with slight shifts in trophic position present with increasing size. Our findings indicate that resource availability and ontogenetic diet shifts strongly influence horseshoe crab trophic dynamics,

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…2013; Kliemann et al . 2019). In our case, T. tridentatus could exhibit a large directional shift in resource use patterns in instars >12 but, as aforementioned, we did not sample older juvenile and adult crabs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%