Identifying the spatial scale of density‐dependent interaction of predators with schooling fish in the southern Labrador Current

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Author: Schneider, D. C.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1989
• Subjects: Newfoundland; Uria aalge; uria
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1989.tb03051.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1095-8649.1989.tb03051.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1989.tb03051.x

Previous work along the coast of Newfoundland has shown that aggregative responses of puffins, Fraiercula arctica , and common guillemots, Uria aalge , to schooling fish, primarily capelin, Mallotus villosus , occur at spatial scales of 2‐6 km. The present work tests the hypothesis that coastal upwelling results in aggregation of capelin at this scale, and that the scale of interaction with predators can be predicted from wind‐driven coastal upwelling. An observational experiment in 1987 showed that a relatively simple physical model could be used to predict the spatial scale of upwelling, that schooling fish aggregate at this scale after upwelling, that aggregation of schooling fish at the scale of upwelling decays as upwelling relaxes, and that the spatial association of puffins and guillemots with schooling fish reaches a maximum at this scale. These results suggest that relatively simple physical theory can, in some cases, be used to identify the spatial scale of interaction of predators with prey.