Isotopic niches of Mesopelagic fish on the southern Kerguelen Axis: variation and overlap
Mesopelagic fish are an important but poorly understood mid-trophic component of Southern Ocean food webs. This study aimed to investigate the trophic role of mesopelagic fish in the southern Kerguelen Plateau region. We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes to quantify the isotopic niches of key...
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Australian Antarctic Division
2019
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:39780 2023-05-15T18:25:36+02:00 Isotopic niches of Mesopelagic fish on the southern Kerguelen Axis: variation and overlap Woods, B Walters, A Hindell, M Trebilco, R Welsford, DC Dell, J Duhamel, G 2019 application/pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/39780/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/39780/2/128577%20-%20Isotopic%20niches%20of%20mesopelagic%20fish%20on%20the%20southern%20Kerguelen%20Axis.pdf http://heardisland.antarctica.gov.au/research/kerguelen-plateau-symposium/the-kerguelen-plateau-marine-ecosystems-and-fisheries en eng Australian Antarctic Division https://eprints.utas.edu.au/39780/2/128577%20-%20Isotopic%20niches%20of%20mesopelagic%20fish%20on%20the%20southern%20Kerguelen%20Axis.pdf Woods, B, Walters, A orcid:0000-0002-7166-5689 , Hindell, M orcid:0000-0002-7823-7185 and Trebilco, R orcid:0000-0001-9712-8016 2019 , 'Isotopic niches of Mesopelagic fish on the southern Kerguelen Axis: variation and overlap', in DC Welsford and J Dell and G Duhamel (eds.), The Kerguelen Plateau: marine ecosystem and fisheries. Proceedings of the Second Symposium , Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, pp. 59-71 . stable isotopes trophodynamics food webs micronekton prey field midwater trawling Conference Publication PeerReviewed 2019 ftunivtasmania 2022-01-17T23:18:07Z Mesopelagic fish are an important but poorly understood mid-trophic component of Southern Ocean food webs. This study aimed to investigate the trophic role of mesopelagic fish in the southern Kerguelen Plateau region. We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes to quantify the isotopic niches of key mesopelagic fish species (six from the family Myctophidae, and one from Bathylagidae), to investigate variation along the δ15N and δ13C axes between species, and to examine the relationship between fish body length and δ15N within species and across the community. The assemblage of key mesopelagic fish occupied similar isotopic niche space with overlap among species in both δ13C and δ15N values. However, there were areas of non-overlapping isotopic niche space between species providing evidence of niche partitioning most likely driven by interspecific differences in diet and body size. At the community level, fish standard length was positively correlated with δ15N suggesting size-related differences in diet between species. However, within-species relationships between fish standard length and δ15N were weak. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that while there is a degree of trophic diversity among the taxa examined, this assemblage comprises a single energy pathway, which is informative for overall understanding of food-web architecture as well as development of trophically orientated ecosystem model for this region. Conference Object Southern Ocean University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Kerguelen Southern Ocean |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasmania |
language |
English |
topic |
stable isotopes trophodynamics food webs micronekton prey field midwater trawling |
spellingShingle |
stable isotopes trophodynamics food webs micronekton prey field midwater trawling Woods, B Walters, A Hindell, M Trebilco, R Isotopic niches of Mesopelagic fish on the southern Kerguelen Axis: variation and overlap |
topic_facet |
stable isotopes trophodynamics food webs micronekton prey field midwater trawling |
description |
Mesopelagic fish are an important but poorly understood mid-trophic component of Southern Ocean food webs. This study aimed to investigate the trophic role of mesopelagic fish in the southern Kerguelen Plateau region. We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes to quantify the isotopic niches of key mesopelagic fish species (six from the family Myctophidae, and one from Bathylagidae), to investigate variation along the δ15N and δ13C axes between species, and to examine the relationship between fish body length and δ15N within species and across the community. The assemblage of key mesopelagic fish occupied similar isotopic niche space with overlap among species in both δ13C and δ15N values. However, there were areas of non-overlapping isotopic niche space between species providing evidence of niche partitioning most likely driven by interspecific differences in diet and body size. At the community level, fish standard length was positively correlated with δ15N suggesting size-related differences in diet between species. However, within-species relationships between fish standard length and δ15N were weak. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that while there is a degree of trophic diversity among the taxa examined, this assemblage comprises a single energy pathway, which is informative for overall understanding of food-web architecture as well as development of trophically orientated ecosystem model for this region. |
author2 |
Welsford, DC Dell, J Duhamel, G |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Woods, B Walters, A Hindell, M Trebilco, R |
author_facet |
Woods, B Walters, A Hindell, M Trebilco, R |
author_sort |
Woods, B |
title |
Isotopic niches of Mesopelagic fish on the southern Kerguelen Axis: variation and overlap |
title_short |
Isotopic niches of Mesopelagic fish on the southern Kerguelen Axis: variation and overlap |
title_full |
Isotopic niches of Mesopelagic fish on the southern Kerguelen Axis: variation and overlap |
title_fullStr |
Isotopic niches of Mesopelagic fish on the southern Kerguelen Axis: variation and overlap |
title_full_unstemmed |
Isotopic niches of Mesopelagic fish on the southern Kerguelen Axis: variation and overlap |
title_sort |
isotopic niches of mesopelagic fish on the southern kerguelen axis: variation and overlap |
publisher |
Australian Antarctic Division |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/39780/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/39780/2/128577%20-%20Isotopic%20niches%20of%20mesopelagic%20fish%20on%20the%20southern%20Kerguelen%20Axis.pdf http://heardisland.antarctica.gov.au/research/kerguelen-plateau-symposium/the-kerguelen-plateau-marine-ecosystems-and-fisheries |
geographic |
Kerguelen Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Kerguelen Southern Ocean |
genre |
Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/39780/2/128577%20-%20Isotopic%20niches%20of%20mesopelagic%20fish%20on%20the%20southern%20Kerguelen%20Axis.pdf Woods, B, Walters, A orcid:0000-0002-7166-5689 , Hindell, M orcid:0000-0002-7823-7185 and Trebilco, R orcid:0000-0001-9712-8016 2019 , 'Isotopic niches of Mesopelagic fish on the southern Kerguelen Axis: variation and overlap', in DC Welsford and J Dell and G Duhamel (eds.), The Kerguelen Plateau: marine ecosystem and fisheries. Proceedings of the Second Symposium , Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, pp. 59-71 . |
_version_ |
1766207157288566784 |