Diet and distribution of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) on the northeast Newfoundland coast: the influence of spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus)
Spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus) provide a pulse resource of fish eggs and dead fish on the northeast Newfoundland coast, bringing an abundance of nutrients into the system that can be relied upon by numerous predatory and scavenging species. I investigated how this annual resource pulse influen...
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ftunivmanitoba:oai:mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca:1993/30681 2023-06-18T03:41:46+02:00 Diet and distribution of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) on the northeast Newfoundland coast: the influence of spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus) Crook, Kevin Davoren, Gail (Biological Sciences) Roth, Jim (Biological Sciences) Paterson, Michael (Entomology) 2015 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1993/30681 eng eng http://hdl.handle.net/1993/30681 open access Sea urchin Capelin Stable isotopes master thesis 2015 ftunivmanitoba 2023-06-04T17:44:25Z Spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus) provide a pulse resource of fish eggs and dead fish on the northeast Newfoundland coast, bringing an abundance of nutrients into the system that can be relied upon by numerous predatory and scavenging species. I investigated how this annual resource pulse influenced the diet and distribution of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) at capelin spawning sites and the potential for urchins to impact capelin recruitment through egg predation. Urchin density was monitored using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) during the summers of 2013 and 2014, and urchins were collected from capelin spawning sites in 2014 to assess diet using nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes. Urchins were distributed in higher densities in areas with dead capelin and were often clumped directly on dead fish. Conversely, the presence of capelin eggs negatively influenced urchin density. Stable isotope analysis revealed an increase in 15N when capelin resources became available, suggesting urchins were consuming capelin resources. Diet preference experiments also indicated that dead capelin were preferentially consumed over eggs. Overall, urchins appear to prefer and seek out dead capelin on spawning sites suggesting urchins may be important recyclers of capelin detritus and have little impact on capelin recruitment. October 2015 Master Thesis Newfoundland MSpace at the University of Manitoba |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MSpace at the University of Manitoba |
op_collection_id |
ftunivmanitoba |
language |
English |
topic |
Sea urchin Capelin Stable isotopes |
spellingShingle |
Sea urchin Capelin Stable isotopes Crook, Kevin Diet and distribution of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) on the northeast Newfoundland coast: the influence of spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus) |
topic_facet |
Sea urchin Capelin Stable isotopes |
description |
Spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus) provide a pulse resource of fish eggs and dead fish on the northeast Newfoundland coast, bringing an abundance of nutrients into the system that can be relied upon by numerous predatory and scavenging species. I investigated how this annual resource pulse influenced the diet and distribution of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) at capelin spawning sites and the potential for urchins to impact capelin recruitment through egg predation. Urchin density was monitored using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) during the summers of 2013 and 2014, and urchins were collected from capelin spawning sites in 2014 to assess diet using nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes. Urchins were distributed in higher densities in areas with dead capelin and were often clumped directly on dead fish. Conversely, the presence of capelin eggs negatively influenced urchin density. Stable isotope analysis revealed an increase in 15N when capelin resources became available, suggesting urchins were consuming capelin resources. Diet preference experiments also indicated that dead capelin were preferentially consumed over eggs. Overall, urchins appear to prefer and seek out dead capelin on spawning sites suggesting urchins may be important recyclers of capelin detritus and have little impact on capelin recruitment. October 2015 |
author2 |
Davoren, Gail (Biological Sciences) Roth, Jim (Biological Sciences) Paterson, Michael (Entomology) |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Crook, Kevin |
author_facet |
Crook, Kevin |
author_sort |
Crook, Kevin |
title |
Diet and distribution of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) on the northeast Newfoundland coast: the influence of spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus) |
title_short |
Diet and distribution of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) on the northeast Newfoundland coast: the influence of spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus) |
title_full |
Diet and distribution of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) on the northeast Newfoundland coast: the influence of spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus) |
title_fullStr |
Diet and distribution of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) on the northeast Newfoundland coast: the influence of spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Diet and distribution of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) on the northeast Newfoundland coast: the influence of spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus) |
title_sort |
diet and distribution of green sea urchins (strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) on the northeast newfoundland coast: the influence of spawning capelin (mallotus villosus) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1993/30681 |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1993/30681 |
op_rights |
open access |
_version_ |
1769007442100748288 |