Food abundance affects both morphology and behaviour of juvenile perch     

J. Borcherding  C. Magnhagen 《Ecology of Freshwater Fish》2008,17(2):207-218

Abstract –  Behaviour and morphology were both shown to differ between 1+ perch from two lakes that in earlier studies showed differences in size-specific predation risk. As the level of nourishment is known to affect behaviour and morphology, we fed perch of the two lakes in tanks for 40 days with two food levels, to study whether observed differences remain stable with changes in food availability. The perch fed in excess grew significantly, while the perch at the low food conditions lost weight, clearly indicating undernourishment. In aquarium experiments, the starved perch from both lakes were much bolder in the trade-off between foraging and predator avoidance than their well-fed conspecifics. In addition, the shape of perch differed significantly between feeding treatments. At low food levels perch got a more slender body, while at high food levels they developed a deeper body and a relatively smaller head. Independent of feeding level, the comparison between the two lakes revealed a clearly deeper body and a larger head area for one population, a shape difference that remained stable after the feeding period. The results give evidence that the level of nourishment is an important factor that quickly alters risk-taking behaviour. In body morphology, however, more stable shape characteristics must be distinguished from more flexible ones. Consequently, the level of nourishment is a potential factor that may quickly hide other proximate cues and must be considered attentively in studies, in which shape changes and behaviour are related to environmental factors like diet, predation pressure or habitat diversity.  相似文献   

Fine‐scale movement ecology of a freshwater top predator,Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis), in response to the abiotic environment over the course of a year          下载免费PDF全文

Shinnosuke Nakayama  Stefan Linzmaier  John Briege  Thomas Klefoth  Tonio Pieterek  Robert Arlinghaus 《Ecology of Freshwater Fish》2018,27(3):798-812

Fine‐scale underwater telemetry affords an unprecedented opportunity to understand how aquatic animals respond to environmental changes. We investigated the movement patterns of an aquatic top predator, Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis), using a three‐dimensional acoustic telemetry system installed in Kleiner Döllnsee (25 ha), a small, shallow, mesotrophic natural lake. Adult piscivorous perch (N = 16) were tagged and tracked in the whole lake at a minimum of 9‐s intervals over the course of one year. Perch increased swimming activity with higher water temperature and light intensity. Air pressure, wind speed and lunar phase also explained perch movements, but the effects were substantially smaller compared to temperature and light. Perch showed a strong diel pattern in activity, with farther swimming distances and larger activity spaces during the daytime, compared to the night‐time. To investigate the influence of prey distribution, we sampled the prey fish in both littoral and pelagic zones in both day and night monthly using gill nets. We found that the prey fish underwent diel horizontal migration, using the littoral zone during the day and the pelagic zone during the night. However, perch showed the opposite patterns, suggesting either that the prey fish avoided predation risk or that the horizontal diel migration of perch was driven by other mechanisms. Our results collectively suggest that the movement ecology of piscivorous perch is mainly governed by a foraging motivation as a function of abiotic variables, especially temperature and light.  相似文献   

Edge Effect on Acorn Removal and Oak Seedling Survival in Mexican Lower Montane Forest Fragments     

Jair Guzmán-Guzmán  Guadalupe Williams-Linera 《New Forests》2006,31(3):487-495

Vegetation structure of forest edges and type of adjacent field can affect seed and seedling survival patterns of tree species. We investigated acorn removal and seedling survival of Quercus germana and Q. xalapensis in relation to woody plant density across old field-forest gradients with soft and abrupt edges. Experiments were established along four parallel bands located at 40–50 m in the forest, forest and field edges (0–10 m to each side of the border), and 20–30 m in the old field. Within each band, woody plant and acorn density was measured, and four points for acorn and seedling removal experiments were randomly positioned. In each position, 20 acorns or four seedlings were placed. Survival was monitored during one month. In abrupt edges, acorn density was higher along edges than in forest interior. Also, higher acorn removal and seedling mortality were observed in the adjacent old-field whereas acorn and seedling survival was the highest at the edges. Acorn and seedling survival was positively correlated to woody vegetation density. As the vegetation density of field and forest edges grows, abrupt edges develop into soft edges, and they become more hospitable to oak recruitment and then to forest cover expansion.  相似文献   

Effects of logging, liana tangles and pasture on seed fate of dry forest tree species in Central Brazil     

Daniel Luis Mascia Vieira  Aldicir Scariot   《Forest Ecology and Management》2006,230(1-3):197-205

We assessed seed fate of six tree species in a seasonally deciduous forest of Central Brazil. Seed germination, predation, removal and death caused by pathogens or dessication were followed in an undisturbed forest site, a logged forest site, and an active pasture. In both forest types we sowed seeds under patches of liana tangles (Low Forest habitat) and under patches of mature forest (High Forest habitat). Seeds were monitored weekly for up to 8 months. Overall, small-seeded species (Astronium fraxinifolium and Tabebuia impetiginosa) had high germination, although germination was lower in the pasture due to insect predation. The hard-coated seeds of Erythrina sp. had higher germination rates in the pasture. The large-seeded Cavanillesia arborea and Swartzia multijuga had high seed removal (ca. 90%) in the pasture and under High Forest, but only 23–34% under Low Forest in the logged site. Lower removal of large seeds in Low Forest suggests that this habitat conceals the seeds and constrains the movement of large mammals. Both species were favored in Low Forest, suggesting that caution should be used when managing lianas. When protected from predation, seeds with a soft coat and high water content, such as the seeds of Eugenia dysenterica and S. multijuga, died from desiccation in the pasture. Restoration efforts must take into consideration high mortality caused by desiccation or insect predation in abandoned pastures of dry forests.  相似文献   

Conserving the benefits of predator biodiversity     

Deborah L. Finke  William E. Snyder 《Biological conservation》2010,143(10):2260-2269

Organisms at higher trophic levels often face a disproportionate risk of local or regional extinction, while at the same time many ecosystems are being invaded by non-native predators. Global environmental change fosters both processes, further altering predator biodiversity. Thus, there has been growing interest in how predator species richness impacts ecosystem functioning. Manipulative experiments have revealed that complementarity and sampling effects, two mechanisms commonly found to underlie diversity effects at other trophic levels, also commonly impact the relationship between predator diversity and prey suppression. Intraguild predation and non-consumptive (behaviorally-mediated) effects on prey, two mechanisms without direct analogs among plants, also strongly impact predator-diversity effects. Predator diversity studies are particularly relevant to conservation because they focus on the trophic group that is most prone to extinction, and because they nearly always measure diversity effects that span several trophic levels. Predator invasions may partly offset species-richness losses to extinction, but because invasive predators typically reach much higher densities and exert stronger impacts on prey than do native species, and because they also displace ecologically-similar native predators, invasion is likely to disrupt natural predator function. A framework for predicting which predator-diversity mechanisms are likely to operate in a given community, and experiments that span more realistic spatiotemporal scales and include large vertebrate predators, are needed to improve the relevance of predator-diversity experiments to conservation decision-making in the future.  相似文献   

Parental care in response to natural variation in nest predation pressure in six sunfish (Centrarchidae: Teleostei) species     

S. J. Cooke  P. J. Weatherhead  D. H. Wahl  D. P. Philipp 《Ecology of Freshwater Fish》2008,17(4):628-638

Abstract – Parental care is an important, energetically costly component of the life history of many fishes. Despite this importance, little is known about how different species of fish vary parental care in response to natural nest predator burdens. In this study, underwater videography was used to quantify parental care activity of six species of syntopic nesting male centrarchid fishes in Lake Opinicon, Ontario, in response to natural predators. This approach was used to test the hypothesis that as offspring develop from eggs to wrigglers, parental care activity should decrease or remain static for fish guarding nests with low predator burden and increase for those with high predator burden, reflecting different external risks. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to derive common aeration and nest defence variables. Aeration and predator defence activity of the fish varied extensively among species. Parental care behaviours indicative of defence and vigilance (e.g., turning, departures, time away from nest, displays) tended to be highest for species that had the most predation attempts, although this was not entirely consistent. There was also a positive relationship between the defence PCA metric and attempted predation. Defence did not vary with stage of offspring development, although interactions between defence and developmental stage were noted for several species. A trade‐off between aeration and defence was not observed. In fact, species that provide high levels of aeration also simultaneously provide high levels of defence. Stage‐specific patterns of defence in this study were less apparent than those documented by studies using responses to staged predator intrusions making it unclear as to the extent that fish were responding to the level of the risk to offspring than to the value of the brood. Therefore, combined use of observational and experimental assessments of parental care investment may be most appropriate for refining current theoretical paradigms.  相似文献   

Influence of European sculpin, Cottus gobio, on Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, recruitment and the effect of gravel size on egg predation – implications for spawning habitat restoration     

D. PALM  M. LINDBERG  E. BRÄNNÄS  & H. LUNDQVIST  J. ÖSTERGREN  U. CARLSSON 《Fisheries Management and Ecology》2009,16(6):501-507

Abstract  The study examined if recruitment of juvenile Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., was influenced by the presence of European sculpin, Cottus gobio L., and if the spawning substrate size used by salmon influences sculpin predation on salmon eggs. A combination of information on spawning site selection by female salmon and associated densities of juvenile salmon indicated that recruitment of juvenile salmon was 10 times lower in areas where sculpin was present than areas without sculpin. Predation rate on salmon eggs was found to be dependent on substrate size in artificial redds created in stream aquaria using four different sizes of substrate (13, 23, 37 and 62 mm). Predation rate averaged 83% in the aquaria with the largest substrate size, whereas a rate of only 2–3% was observed using smaller substrate sizes. Sculpin may thus be an important factor influencing the recruitment of juvenile salmon. Selecting small enough gravel sizes during restoration of salmon spawning habitat could therefore be important to minimise egg predation.  相似文献   

刀角瓢虫对烟粉虱的捕食作用   总被引：3，自引：1，他引：3  

荆英  黄建  韩巨才  马瑞燕 《植物保护学报》2004,31(3):225-229

研究了刀角瓢虫对烟粉虱的捕食作用.结果表明:刀角瓢虫成虫对烟粉虱卵及若虫的日捕食量随粉虱虫态及虫龄的增长而减少,雌成虫的日捕食量显著大于雄成虫.刀角瓢虫雌成虫对烟粉虱卵的功能反应属HollingⅡ型反应,回归方程式为Na=1.016157 N/(1 0.000915N).温度不会影响刀角瓢虫对烟粉虱卵的功能反应形式,但可影响功能反应参数.相互干扰会降低刀角瓢虫雌成虫对烟粉虱卵的寻找效应,刀角瓢虫雌成虫对烟粉虱卵的寻找效应(E)与自身密度(P)的函数关系式为E=0.875185P-1.1941.  相似文献   

圆斑弯叶毛瓢虫对湿地松粉蚧捕食作用研究   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

汤历  赵玉梅汤才郑常格  陆小军 《昆虫天敌》2005,27(1):27-31

在室内试验条件下，研究了圆斑弯叶毛瓢虫Nephus ryugutus(Kamiya)对湿地松粉蚧Oracella aciiLa(Lobdell)的捕食功能反应和干扰反应，结果表明瓢虫的捕食功能反应符合Holing-Ⅱ型模型，捕食量随猎物密度的增加而增大；1～4龄幼虫和成虫理论最大捕食量分别为13．63头，／d、21．57头／d、55．07头／d、66．39头／d和93．40头／d；对猎物的寻找效应随自身密度的增大而下降。在猎物密度不变的情况下．捕食率随自身密度的增加而减少．成虫个体之间的干扰反应经检验．符合Hassel-Varlev干扰反府模型。  相似文献   

茶园新天敌绿点益蝽的初步研究     

唐美君  王志博  张欣欣  殷坤山  周孝贵  郭华伟  肖强 《植物保护》2023,49(3):231-235

绿点益蝽Picromerus viridipunctatus是茶园中新发现的一种捕食性天敌。为探明其生防潜力,通过室内饲养和观测,对其生物学习性和捕食行为开展了研究。结果表明,绿点益蝽在杭州一年发生4代,以成虫越冬;若虫共有5龄。在7月-11月自然温度条件下,卵期、若虫期和成虫期分别为9.1～9.7、23.4～28.0、22.5～26.6 d。单雌平均产卵量133粒,卵平均孵化率55.6%。若虫和成虫均能捕食多种茶园鳞翅目害虫,目前已明确的有茶尺蠖、灰茶尺蠖、茶用克尺蠖、茶蚕、茶刺蛾和茶斑蛾等;成虫对4龄灰茶尺蠖的日捕食量为5.5头。绿点益蝽在茶园具有较好的应用潜力。  相似文献