Stable isotopes reveal the effect of trawl fisheries on the diet of commercially exploited species

Hinz, Hilmar; Moranta, Joan; Balestrini, Stephen; Sciberras, Marija; Pantin, Julia R.; Monnington, James; Zalewski, Alex; Kaiser, Michel J.; Sköld, Mattias; Jönsson, Patrik; Bastardie, François; Hiddink, Jan Geert

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-06379-6

Cited by 31 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…This was also reflected in high carbon and nitrogen contents, as well as in high δ 13 C values. In aquatic food webs, high δ 13C values tend to correlate with better feeding conditions and less competition (Hinz et al 2017), which is consistent with our results. In contrast, TMG sampled in the much larger reservoir where predatory salmonids abound, had the lowest C:N ratios, indicative of low lipid reserves, as well as low carbon and nitrogen contents, which are also consistent with poor feeding conditions (Vander Zanden et al 1999).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Trophic plasticity of the highly invasive topmouth gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva) inferred from stable isotope analysis

Rolla

Consuegra

Leániz

2019

Preprint

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A wide trophic niche and high trophic plasticity are often invoked to explain the successful establishment of many aquatic invaders, but there is little information regarding the diet of most invasive fish in European waters. We combined stomach content and stable isotope analysis (SIA) of 13 C and 15 N to examine the trophic niche of the highly invasive topmouth gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva) in four contrasting ponds and reservoirs in South Wales. Marked differences in diet and trophic position were found among neighbouring systems only a few kilometres apart. The most diverse diet was found in ponds with the fewest number of inter-specific competitors, and resulted in topmouth gudgeon having the highest condition factor, the widest variation in δ 13 C and δ 15 N values, and the highest carbon content, typical of generalist feeders. In contrast, topmouth gudgeon that coexisted with other cyprinids, were much more likely to have empty stomachs and relied almost exclusively on plant seeds, resulting in fish having a poor condition factor and low trophic position. Comparisons with other trophic studies indicate that variation in isotope values among neighbouring sites can exceed variation across continents, making it difficult to predict the diet or trophic impacts of the invasive topmouth gudgeon. Given the importance of obtaining reliable data on trophic position for risk assessment, our study shows that the use of SIA could be used to prioritize control and eradication measures that take into account trophic plasticity.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Trophic plasticity of the highly invasive topmouth gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva) inferred from stable isotope analysis

Rolla

Consuegra

Leániz

2019

Preprint

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“…3 ; Table 3 ) may have contributed to the increase in total fish abundances (in catch per unit effort) since the mid-late 1990s in the same area despite an overall decrease in zoobenthic biomasses ( Snickars, Weigel & Bonsdorff, 2015 ). While our framework centres on a bottom-up approach, aiming to answer how changing prey communities affect predators, it is important to acknowledge that increasing feeding pressures due to higher abundances of predators or changes in the predator species composition may also structure the prey community and its biomass from the top down ( Mattila & Bonsdorff, 1988 ; Olsson, Bergström & Gårdmark, 2013 ; Hinz et al, 2017 ). Hence, scenarios would be possible where the predators themselves would decrease the resource suitability by diminishing the CWM of favourable food items.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In dynamically changing ecosystems, strong environmental drivers, human impacts, and invasive species may rapidly alter community characteristics and biotic interactions ( Collie, Wood & Jeffries, 2008 ; Walther, 2010 ; Johnson et al, 2014 ; Weigel et al, 2015 ). Bottom trawl fishing, for example, has been highlighted as one particular human pressure that can impact the composition of benthic prey communities, leading to altered predator conditions by changing the prey availability ( Hiddink et al, 2016 ; Hinz et al, 2017 ). Trait-based approaches seem to be a promising tool to assess changing food conditions on community levels ( Weigel, Blenckner & Bonsdorff, 2016 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trait-based predation suitability offers insight into effects of changing prey communities

Weigel

Bonsdorff

2018

PeerJ

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Increasing environmental pressures and human impacts are reshaping community structures and species interactions throughout all trophic levels. The morphological and behavioural characteristics of species communities contain key ecological information on why prey species appear attractive to predators but are rarely applied when exploring predator-prey (PP) relationships. Expanding our knowledge on how changing prey communities can alter the food resource suitability (RS) for predators is vital for understanding PP dynamics in changing ecosystems. Detailed predator diet data are commonly restricted to commercially important species and often not available over long temporal scales. To find out whether structural changes of prey communities impact the food RS for predator communities over space and time, we apply a novel framework to describe and interpret changes in predator diet-suitability based on predation-relevant traits of prey. We use information on described feeding links from the literature to compile the prey spectrum for each predator and subsequently translate the prey-species into a prey-trait spectrum. For each predator, we then calculate a frequency-based prey-trait affinity score and relate it to the available food resource pool, the community weighted means of prey traits, resulting in a prey-suitability measure. We aim to reveal whether a described multi-decadal change in the community structure of zoobenthos had an impact on the food suitability for the benthic-feeding fish in a coastal system of the Baltic Sea. We assess the direction of change in resource quality from the perspective of benthic-feeding fish and describe predator-specific responses to examine which species are likely to profit or be disadvantaged by changes in their prey spectrum. Furthermore, we test the relationship between functional diversity of prey communities and food suitability for predators, and whether predation linkage-structures are affected through prey community-changes. Our results show that changes in zoobenthic communities had a positive effect on the food suitability for most benthic-feeding fish, implying more suitable food resources. Species-specific responses of predators suggest varying plasticity to cope with prey assemblages of different trait compositions. Additionally, the functional diversity of zoobenthos had a positive effect on the food suitability for predator fish. The changing trait compositions of prey influenced the PP linkage-structure, indicating varying specialisation of benthic feeding fish towards available food resources. Our findings suggest that changing morphological characteristics of prey can impact food RS features for its predators. This approach enables long-term evaluation of prey quality characteristics where no detailed diet data is available and allows for cross-system comparison as it is not relying on taxonomic identities per se.

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“…3, Tab. 3) may have contributed to the increase in total fish abundances (in catch per unit effort) since the mid-late 1990s in the same area despite an overall decrease in zoobenthic biomasses . While our framework centres on a bottom-up approach, aiming to answer how changing prey communities affect predators, it is important to acknowledge that increasing feeding pressures due to higher abundances of predators or changes in the predator species composition may also structure the prey community and its biomass from the top down (Mattila & Bonsdorff, 1988;Olsson, Bergström & Gårdmark, 2013;Hinz et al, 2017). Hence, scenarios would be possible where the predators themselves would decrease the resource suitability by diminishing the CWM of favourable food items.…”

Section: Trait-based Predation; Concept and Food Suitability Proxymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In dynamically changing ecosystems, strong environmental drivers, human impacts, and invasive species may rapidly alter community characteristics and biotic interactions (Collie, Wood & Jeffries, 2008;Walther, 2010;Johnson et al, 2014;. Bottom trawl fishing, for example, has been highlighted as one particular human pressure that can impact the composition of benthic prey communities, leading to altered predator conditions by changing the prey availability (Hiddink et al, 2016;Hinz et al, 2017). Trait-based approaches seem to be a promising tool to assess changing food conditions on community levels ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #1 of "Trait-based predation suitability offers insight into effects of changing prey communities (v0.1)"

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increasing environmental pressures and human impacts are reshaping community structures and species interactions throughout all trophic levels. The morphological and behavioural characteristics of species communities contain key ecological information on why prey species appear attractive to predators but are rarely applied when exploring predator-prey relationships. Expanding our knowledge on how changing prey communities can alter the food resource suitability for predators is vital for understanding predator-prey dynamics in changing ecosystems. Detailed predator diet data are commonly restricted to commercially important species and often not available over long temporal scales. To find out whether structural changes of prey communities impact the food resource suitability for predator communities over space and time, we apply a novel framework to describe and interpret changes in predator dietsuitability based on predation-relevant traits of prey. We use information on described feeding links from the literature to compile the prey spectrum for each predator and subsequently translate the prey-species into a prey-trait spectrum. For each predator, we then calculate a frequency-based prey-trait affinity score and relate it to the available food resource pool, the community weighted means of prey traits (CWM), resulting in a prey-suitability measure. We aim to reveal whether a described multi-decadal change in the community structure of zoobenthos had an impact on the food suitability for the benthic feeding fish in a coastal system of the Baltic Sea. We assess the direction of change in resource quality from the perspective of benthic-feeding fish and describe predator-specific responses to examine which species are likely to profit or be disadvantaged by changes in their prey spectrum. Furthermore, we test the relationship between functional diversity of prey communities and food suitability for predators, and whether predation linkage-structures are affected through prey community-changes. Our results show that changes in zoobenthic communities had a positive effect on the food suitability for most benthic-feeding fish, implying more suitable food resources. Species-specific responses of predators suggest varying plasticity to cope with prey assemblages of different trait compositions. Additionally, the functional diversity of zoobenthos had a positive effect on the food suitability for predator fish. The changing trait compositions of prey influenced the predator-prey linkage-structure, indicating varying specialisation of benthic feeding fish toward available food resources. Our findings suggest that changing morphological characteristics of prey can impact food resource suitability features for its predators. This approach enables long

show abstract

Stable isotopes reveal the effect of trawl fisheries on the diet of commercially exploited species

Cited by 31 publications

References 48 publications

Trophic plasticity of the highly invasive topmouth gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva) inferred from stable isotope analysis

Trophic plasticity of the highly invasive topmouth gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva) inferred from stable isotope analysis

Trait-based predation suitability offers insight into effects of changing prey communities

Peer Review #1 of "Trait-based predation suitability offers insight into effects of changing prey communities (v0.1)"

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