Trophic pathways supporting Arctic grayling in a small stream on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska
Abstract Beaded streams are prominent across the Arctic Coastal Plain ( ACP ) of Alaska, yet prey flow and food web dynamics supporting fish inhabiting these streams are poorly understood. Arctic grayling ( Thymallus arcticus ) are a widely distributed upper‐level consumer on the ACP and migrate int...
Published in: | Ecology of Freshwater Fish |
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crwiley:10.1111/eff.12336 2024-06-02T08:00:12+00:00 Trophic pathways supporting Arctic grayling in a small stream on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska McFarland, Jason J. Wipfli, Mark S. Whitman, Matthew S. U.S. Bureau of Land Management Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eff.12336 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Feff.12336 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/eff.12336 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Ecology of Freshwater Fish volume 27, issue 1, page 184-197 ISSN 0906-6691 1600-0633 journal-article 2017 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/eff.12336 2024-05-03T12:06:08Z Abstract Beaded streams are prominent across the Arctic Coastal Plain ( ACP ) of Alaska, yet prey flow and food web dynamics supporting fish inhabiting these streams are poorly understood. Arctic grayling ( Thymallus arcticus ) are a widely distributed upper‐level consumer on the ACP and migrate into beaded streams to forage during the short 3‐month open‐water season. We investigated energy pathways and key prey resources that support grayling in a representative beaded stream, Crea Creek. We measured terrestrial invertebrates entering the stream from predominant riparian vegetation types, prey types supporting a range of fish size classes, and how riparian plants and fish size influenced foraging habits. We found that riparian plants influenced the quantity of terrestrial invertebrates entering Crea Creek; however, these differences were not reflected in fish diets. Prey type and size ingested varied with grayling size and season. Small grayling (<15 cm fork length ( FL )) consumed mostly aquatic invertebrates early in the summer, and terrestrial invertebrates later in summer, while larger fish (>15 cm FL ) foraged most heavily on ninespine stickleback ( Pungitius pungitius ) throughout the summer, indicating that grayling can be insectivorous and piscivorous, depending on size. These findings underscore the potential importance of small streams in Arctic ecosystems as key summer foraging habitats for fish. Understanding trophic pathways supporting stream fishes in these systems will help interpret whether and how petroleum development and climate change may affect energy flow and stream productivity, terrestrial–aquatic linkages and fishes in Arctic ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic grayling Arctic Climate change Thymallus arcticus Alaska Wiley Online Library Arctic Ecology of Freshwater Fish 27 1 184 197 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Beaded streams are prominent across the Arctic Coastal Plain ( ACP ) of Alaska, yet prey flow and food web dynamics supporting fish inhabiting these streams are poorly understood. Arctic grayling ( Thymallus arcticus ) are a widely distributed upper‐level consumer on the ACP and migrate into beaded streams to forage during the short 3‐month open‐water season. We investigated energy pathways and key prey resources that support grayling in a representative beaded stream, Crea Creek. We measured terrestrial invertebrates entering the stream from predominant riparian vegetation types, prey types supporting a range of fish size classes, and how riparian plants and fish size influenced foraging habits. We found that riparian plants influenced the quantity of terrestrial invertebrates entering Crea Creek; however, these differences were not reflected in fish diets. Prey type and size ingested varied with grayling size and season. Small grayling (<15 cm fork length ( FL )) consumed mostly aquatic invertebrates early in the summer, and terrestrial invertebrates later in summer, while larger fish (>15 cm FL ) foraged most heavily on ninespine stickleback ( Pungitius pungitius ) throughout the summer, indicating that grayling can be insectivorous and piscivorous, depending on size. These findings underscore the potential importance of small streams in Arctic ecosystems as key summer foraging habitats for fish. Understanding trophic pathways supporting stream fishes in these systems will help interpret whether and how petroleum development and climate change may affect energy flow and stream productivity, terrestrial–aquatic linkages and fishes in Arctic ecosystems. |
author2 |
U.S. Bureau of Land Management Alaska Department of Fish and Game |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McFarland, Jason J. Wipfli, Mark S. Whitman, Matthew S. |
spellingShingle |
McFarland, Jason J. Wipfli, Mark S. Whitman, Matthew S. Trophic pathways supporting Arctic grayling in a small stream on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska |
author_facet |
McFarland, Jason J. Wipfli, Mark S. Whitman, Matthew S. |
author_sort |
McFarland, Jason J. |
title |
Trophic pathways supporting Arctic grayling in a small stream on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska |
title_short |
Trophic pathways supporting Arctic grayling in a small stream on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska |
title_full |
Trophic pathways supporting Arctic grayling in a small stream on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Trophic pathways supporting Arctic grayling in a small stream on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Trophic pathways supporting Arctic grayling in a small stream on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska |
title_sort |
trophic pathways supporting arctic grayling in a small stream on the arctic coastal plain, alaska |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eff.12336 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Feff.12336 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/eff.12336 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic grayling Arctic Climate change Thymallus arcticus Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic grayling Arctic Climate change Thymallus arcticus Alaska |
op_source |
Ecology of Freshwater Fish volume 27, issue 1, page 184-197 ISSN 0906-6691 1600-0633 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/eff.12336 |
container_title |
Ecology of Freshwater Fish |
container_volume |
27 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
184 |
op_container_end_page |
197 |
_version_ |
1800744186301906944 |