Seasonal prey taxa and size selection and drivers of age-0 walleye ontogenetic diet shifts
Prey abundance and size vary seasonally, creating a dynamic connection between predator and prey. The natural complexity related to consuming multiple prey types as fish undergo ontogenetic diet shifts combined with the frequent sampling and substantial laboratory time investment required to investi...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2024-04-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Freshwater Ecology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02705060.2024.2426555 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850108608795115520 |
|---|---|
| author | Casey W. Schoenebeck Keith D. Koupal Brian C. Peterson Chris S. Uphoff Zach Woiak Brett T. Miller Melissa R. Wuellner Joshua W. Kreitman |
| author_facet | Casey W. Schoenebeck Keith D. Koupal Brian C. Peterson Chris S. Uphoff Zach Woiak Brett T. Miller Melissa R. Wuellner Joshua W. Kreitman |
| author_sort | Casey W. Schoenebeck |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Prey abundance and size vary seasonally, creating a dynamic connection between predator and prey. The natural complexity related to consuming multiple prey types as fish undergo ontogenetic diet shifts combined with the frequent sampling and substantial laboratory time investment required to investigate seasonal predator-prey dynamics limits understanding of seasonal prey availability and age-0 prey taxa and size selection. Our study used frequent prey sampling spanning a four-year period to understand which prey taxa and sizes are seasonally available to age-0 walleye Sander vitreus, which were sampled from May to November across all four years of this study to document food habits and prey sizes. Consumed prey were then compared to available prey within the reservoir to evaluate prey taxa and size selection. Age-0 walleye seasonal food habits were consistently simplistic as age-0 walleye in this study largely consumed a single zooplankton taxa (calanoida) and then shifted directly to piscivory where they again focused consumption on a single taxa, and age group (age-0 gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum) while passing over available benthic macroinvertebrates. The ontogenetic shift to larval gizzard shad coincided with peak larval shad availability. Interestingly, age-0 walleye were size selective for both prey types, selecting the largest calanoida available when zooplanktivorous but consuming some of the smallest age-0 gizzard shad despite increasing gape size that would have allowed for consumption of larger shad. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4f29c849137841c488f2e78bb64faee2 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0270-5060 2156-6941 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Freshwater Ecology |
| spelling | doaj-art-4f29c849137841c488f2e78bb64faee22025-08-20T02:38:18ZengTaylor & Francis GroupJournal of Freshwater Ecology0270-50602156-69412024-04-0139110.1080/02705060.2024.2426555Seasonal prey taxa and size selection and drivers of age-0 walleye ontogenetic diet shiftsCasey W. Schoenebeck0Keith D. Koupal1Brian C. Peterson2Chris S. Uphoff3Zach Woiak4Brett T. Miller5Melissa R. Wuellner6Joshua W. Kreitman7Department of Biology, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Bruner Hall of Science, Kearney, NE, USANebraska Game and Parks Commission, Kearney, NE, USADepartment of Biology, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Bruner Hall of Science, Kearney, NE, USADepartment of Biology, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Bruner Hall of Science, Kearney, NE, USADepartment of Biology, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Bruner Hall of Science, Kearney, NE, USADepartment of Biology, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Bruner Hall of Science, Kearney, NE, USADepartment of Biology, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Bruner Hall of Science, Kearney, NE, USADepartment of Biology, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Bruner Hall of Science, Kearney, NE, USAPrey abundance and size vary seasonally, creating a dynamic connection between predator and prey. The natural complexity related to consuming multiple prey types as fish undergo ontogenetic diet shifts combined with the frequent sampling and substantial laboratory time investment required to investigate seasonal predator-prey dynamics limits understanding of seasonal prey availability and age-0 prey taxa and size selection. Our study used frequent prey sampling spanning a four-year period to understand which prey taxa and sizes are seasonally available to age-0 walleye Sander vitreus, which were sampled from May to November across all four years of this study to document food habits and prey sizes. Consumed prey were then compared to available prey within the reservoir to evaluate prey taxa and size selection. Age-0 walleye seasonal food habits were consistently simplistic as age-0 walleye in this study largely consumed a single zooplankton taxa (calanoida) and then shifted directly to piscivory where they again focused consumption on a single taxa, and age group (age-0 gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum) while passing over available benthic macroinvertebrates. The ontogenetic shift to larval gizzard shad coincided with peak larval shad availability. Interestingly, age-0 walleye were size selective for both prey types, selecting the largest calanoida available when zooplanktivorous but consuming some of the smallest age-0 gizzard shad despite increasing gape size that would have allowed for consumption of larger shad.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02705060.2024.2426555Food habitspreyselectionsizegapeontogenetic shift |
| spellingShingle | Casey W. Schoenebeck Keith D. Koupal Brian C. Peterson Chris S. Uphoff Zach Woiak Brett T. Miller Melissa R. Wuellner Joshua W. Kreitman Seasonal prey taxa and size selection and drivers of age-0 walleye ontogenetic diet shifts Journal of Freshwater Ecology Food habits prey selection size gape ontogenetic shift |
| title | Seasonal prey taxa and size selection and drivers of age-0 walleye ontogenetic diet shifts |
| title_full | Seasonal prey taxa and size selection and drivers of age-0 walleye ontogenetic diet shifts |
| title_fullStr | Seasonal prey taxa and size selection and drivers of age-0 walleye ontogenetic diet shifts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seasonal prey taxa and size selection and drivers of age-0 walleye ontogenetic diet shifts |
| title_short | Seasonal prey taxa and size selection and drivers of age-0 walleye ontogenetic diet shifts |
| title_sort | seasonal prey taxa and size selection and drivers of age 0 walleye ontogenetic diet shifts |
| topic | Food habits prey selection size gape ontogenetic shift |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02705060.2024.2426555 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT caseywschoenebeck seasonalpreytaxaandsizeselectionanddriversofage0walleyeontogeneticdietshifts AT keithdkoupal seasonalpreytaxaandsizeselectionanddriversofage0walleyeontogeneticdietshifts AT briancpeterson seasonalpreytaxaandsizeselectionanddriversofage0walleyeontogeneticdietshifts AT chrissuphoff seasonalpreytaxaandsizeselectionanddriversofage0walleyeontogeneticdietshifts AT zachwoiak seasonalpreytaxaandsizeselectionanddriversofage0walleyeontogeneticdietshifts AT bretttmiller seasonalpreytaxaandsizeselectionanddriversofage0walleyeontogeneticdietshifts AT melissarwuellner seasonalpreytaxaandsizeselectionanddriversofage0walleyeontogeneticdietshifts AT joshuawkreitman seasonalpreytaxaandsizeselectionanddriversofage0walleyeontogeneticdietshifts |