Predation by brown trout ( Salmo trutta) along a diversifying prey community gradient
Predation has a fundamental role in aquatic ecosystems, but the relative importance of factors governing prey selection by predators remains controversial. In this study, we contrast five lakes of a subarctic watershed to explore how prey community characteristics affect prey selection and growth ra...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f08-096 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/F08-096 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/F08-096 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/f08-096 2024-09-15T18:38:00+00:00 Predation by brown trout ( Salmo trutta) along a diversifying prey community gradient Jensen, Hallvard Kahilainen, Kimmo K. Amundsen, Per-Arne Gjelland, Karl Øystein Tuomaala, Antti Malinen, Tommi Bøhn, Thomas 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f08-096 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/F08-096 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/F08-096 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences volume 65, issue 9, page 1831-1841 ISSN 0706-652X 1205-7533 journal-article 2008 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/f08-096 2024-08-08T04:13:41Z Predation has a fundamental role in aquatic ecosystems, but the relative importance of factors governing prey selection by predators remains controversial. In this study, we contrast five lakes of a subarctic watershed to explore how prey community characteristics affect prey selection and growth rate of the common top predator, brown trout ( Salmo trutta ). The lakes constitute a distinct gradient of different coregonid prey fish, ranging from monomorphic common whitefish ( Coregonus lavaretus ) to polymorphic whitefish co-occurring with vendace ( Coregonus albula ). The brown trout was a morph–species- and size-specific pelagic predator, selecting the small-sized, pelagic whitefish morph or vendace over the benthic whitefish morphs. In all lakes, the average prey size increased with predator size, but small-sized prey were also included in the diet of large predators. The selection of small-sized, pelagic prey fish appeared to be a favourable foraging strategy for the brown trout, yielding higher growth rates and an earlier ontogenetic shift to piscivory. The findings emphasize that piscivory appear to be shaped by the diversity, size-structure, and abundance of available prey in a given community. Article in Journal/Newspaper Subarctic Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 65 9 1831 1841 |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Predation has a fundamental role in aquatic ecosystems, but the relative importance of factors governing prey selection by predators remains controversial. In this study, we contrast five lakes of a subarctic watershed to explore how prey community characteristics affect prey selection and growth rate of the common top predator, brown trout ( Salmo trutta ). The lakes constitute a distinct gradient of different coregonid prey fish, ranging from monomorphic common whitefish ( Coregonus lavaretus ) to polymorphic whitefish co-occurring with vendace ( Coregonus albula ). The brown trout was a morph–species- and size-specific pelagic predator, selecting the small-sized, pelagic whitefish morph or vendace over the benthic whitefish morphs. In all lakes, the average prey size increased with predator size, but small-sized prey were also included in the diet of large predators. The selection of small-sized, pelagic prey fish appeared to be a favourable foraging strategy for the brown trout, yielding higher growth rates and an earlier ontogenetic shift to piscivory. The findings emphasize that piscivory appear to be shaped by the diversity, size-structure, and abundance of available prey in a given community. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jensen, Hallvard Kahilainen, Kimmo K. Amundsen, Per-Arne Gjelland, Karl Øystein Tuomaala, Antti Malinen, Tommi Bøhn, Thomas |
spellingShingle |
Jensen, Hallvard Kahilainen, Kimmo K. Amundsen, Per-Arne Gjelland, Karl Øystein Tuomaala, Antti Malinen, Tommi Bøhn, Thomas Predation by brown trout ( Salmo trutta) along a diversifying prey community gradient |
author_facet |
Jensen, Hallvard Kahilainen, Kimmo K. Amundsen, Per-Arne Gjelland, Karl Øystein Tuomaala, Antti Malinen, Tommi Bøhn, Thomas |
author_sort |
Jensen, Hallvard |
title |
Predation by brown trout ( Salmo trutta) along a diversifying prey community gradient |
title_short |
Predation by brown trout ( Salmo trutta) along a diversifying prey community gradient |
title_full |
Predation by brown trout ( Salmo trutta) along a diversifying prey community gradient |
title_fullStr |
Predation by brown trout ( Salmo trutta) along a diversifying prey community gradient |
title_full_unstemmed |
Predation by brown trout ( Salmo trutta) along a diversifying prey community gradient |
title_sort |
predation by brown trout ( salmo trutta) along a diversifying prey community gradient |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f08-096 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/F08-096 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/F08-096 |
genre |
Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Subarctic |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences volume 65, issue 9, page 1831-1841 ISSN 0706-652X 1205-7533 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/f08-096 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
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65 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
1831 |
op_container_end_page |
1841 |
_version_ |
1810482340451844096 |