Density Dependent Growth and Size Specific Competitive Interactions in Young Fish

Byström, Pär; García‐Berthou, Emili

doi:10.2307/3546440

Cited by 123 publications

(141 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…1 Left). Furthermore, our experimental studies show that small perch can sustain themselves at lower resource levels than large perch, and that small perch do not starve under the resource levels prevailing in the study system (26) Modeling results strongly support the interpretation of the empirical data, because they also show a shift in dominance of different size cohorts in the cannibalistic populations. In one phase, the density of perch Ն2 years old is high, and the number of perch recruited to an age of 1 year is negligible because of high cannibalism from perch Ն2 years old (t ϭ 1-8; Fig.…”

Section: Left)supporting

confidence: 75%

“…1 Left), thereby outcompeting the 1-year-old cohort that starved to death (17). The competitive superiority of YOY perch over 1-year-old individuals results from the former's lower metabolic demands and hence lower resource demands (23), a conclusion that is supported by experiments showing a competitive superiority of YOY perch over 1-year-old perch (26).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Growth of older perch follows the energy budget model originally developed (16). All individuallevel model parameters described above have been estimated in laboratory or pond experiments (16,26) independent of the perch system studied with the exception of the maximum biomass densities of zooplankton and macroinvertebrates (for obvious reasons) and YOY perch growth.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gigantic cannibals driving a whole-lake trophic cascade

Persson

Roos

Claessen

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

155

185

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Trophic cascades have been a central paradigm in explaining the structure of ecological communities but have been demonstrated mainly through comparative studies or experimental manipulations. In contrast, evidence for shifts in trophic cascades caused by intrinsically driven population dynamics is meager. By using empirical data of a cannibalistic fish population covering a 10-year period and a size-structured population model, we show the occurrence of a dynamic trophic cascade in a lake ecosystem, in which the community over time alternates between two different configurations. The intrinsically driven change in the size structure of the fish population from a dominance of stunted individuals to a dominance of gigantic cannibals among adult individuals is the driving force behind distinct abundance switches observed in zooplankton and phytoplankton. The presence of the phase with gigantic cannibals depends critically on the energy they extract from their victims, allowing strong reproduction for a number of years. C ommunity-wide trophic cascades, the propagation of indirect mutualism between nonadjacent trophic levels in food webs, have been suggested to occur more frequently in aquatic than in terrestrial systems (1-4). This suggestion is based on the arguments that terrestrial systems have a higher heterogeneity, a higher overall species diversity, and more chemical defenses among primary producers (higher plants vs. algae; ref. 1). Although the validity of all of these arguments has been questioned (2, 4), undoubtedly the empirical evidence for community-wide trophic cascades is, at present, substantially stronger for aquatic than for terrestrial systems. The empirical evidence largely stems from two sources: comparative studies of different systems in which the trophic structure, such as food chain length, differs (5-6) and experimental manipulations of top predators, either intentional or unintentional (species invasions; refs. 2, 3, and 7-9). In contrast, there is hardly any evidence for dynamic trophic cascades, in which major shifts in overall food-web structure are intrinsically driven by population dynamics. Only a few studies on recruitment variation have considered this aspect (10-12).Cannibalism has been shown to have a number of diverse effects on population dynamics and persistence (13-17). These effects, among others, include a potential for alternative stable states (18,19) and chaotic dynamics (20). Although many cannibalistic models ignore the energy that cannibals gain from cannibalism and, thus, are essentially ''infanticide'' models (13,15,20), some theoretical studies have shown that the energy extracted by the cannibal may have substantial impact on population persistence and individual life history (14, 16). Empirical evidence also suggests such an effect of energy extraction on population dynamics because of increased growth and thereby increased per-capita fecundity of cannibals (17).Here we present strong evidence for a whole-lake trophic cascade that is dynamic and intrinsically ...

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Section: Left)supporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gigantic cannibals driving a whole-lake trophic cascade

Persson

Roos

Claessen

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

155

185

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“…We chose this particular function for two reasons. First, a hump-shaped relationship has been found in other species to adequately describe the attack rate on specific prey (Werner 1988, Byströ m and Garcìa-Berthou 1999, Hjelm 2000. Second, parameter estimates were available for three species normally coexisting with pikeperch, namely perch (Perca fluviatilis), bream (Abramis brama), and roach.…”

Section: Foraging Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging Capacity and Resource Synchronization in an Ontogenetic Diet Switcher, Pikeperch (Stizostedion Lucioperca)

Persson

Brönmark

2002

Ecology

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Foraging capacity and resource synchronization in an ontogenetic diet switcher, pikeperch (Stizostedion lucioperca)Persson, Anders; Brönmark, Christer Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Persson, A., & Brönmark, C. (2002). Foraging capacity and resource synchronization in an ontogenetic diet switcher, pikeperch (Stizostedion lucioperca). Ecology, 83(11), 3014-3022.General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Abstract. Species undergoing ontogenetic diet shifts face a risk of resource competition that delays transitions between feeding stages. Such ontogenetic bottlenecks are common in piscivorous fish because competition with future prey may retard growth and prevent a size advantage. In pikeperch (Stizostedion lucioperca), year class strength of 0ϩ cohorts is highly variable and positively related to early onset of piscivory. To identify the causes of this pattern, we experimentally quantified size-dependent planktivorous and piscivorous foraging capacity and incorporated the data into a growth model. For any given prey type and size, foraging capacity described a hump-shaped relationship with predator size. Foraging capacity on daphnids peaked at a pikeperch length of 66 mm, suggesting a narrow scope of planktivory. The highest capacity in the piscivorous niche was reached at a predator-to-prey length ratio of 5, where the ratio was an integrated measure of predator size over several prey sizes. With the growth model, we derived size distributions of 0ϩ cohorts as functions of resource levels. Simulations revealed two major determinants for the year class strength of pikeperch. First, discontinuous availability of prey sizes counteracted switching to piscivory within the first growing season. This was accentuated by prey fish growth, which caused the planktivory and piscivory niches to separate over time and limited the time window when diet shift was possible. Second, the hump-shaped relationship between size and foraging capacity resulted in growth reduction when growing out of the planktivorous niche. Switching to piscivory in our model occurred along a perpendicular relationship between fish prey and zooplankton density. Zooplankton density determined whether pikeperch reached a size advantage over prey, and fish prey density affected whether the foraging return of piscivory was higher than planktivory. Individuals not reaching a size advantage over prey and failing to become piscivorous were stunted at a size when consumption bal...

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“…Finally, the handling times h ij , which can be estimated from feeding experiments performed under excessive food conditions (Byström and Garcia-Berthóu, 1999), are assumed to depend mainly upon the trait x i through the function (see Claessen et al, 2000) h…”

Section: The Resident-mutant Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%