Influence of seasonal variability on the trophic structure of pelagic communities
Seasonal variations in hydrodynamic conditions play a critical role in prey availability at the base of the food web and thus have implications for trophic interactions at higher trophic levels. Here we use the combination of stomach content analysis (SCA) and stable isotope analysis (SIA) to invest...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1185376/full |
| _version_ | 1828717240831180800 |
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| author | Beñat Iglesias Maite Louzao Eneko Bachiller Lucía López-López María Santos Guillermo Boyra Eider Andonegi Unai Cotano Izaskun Preciado |
| author_facet | Beñat Iglesias Maite Louzao Eneko Bachiller Lucía López-López María Santos Guillermo Boyra Eider Andonegi Unai Cotano Izaskun Preciado |
| author_sort | Beñat Iglesias |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Seasonal variations in hydrodynamic conditions play a critical role in prey availability at the base of the food web and thus have implications for trophic interactions at higher trophic levels. Here we use the combination of stomach content analysis (SCA) and stable isotope analysis (SIA) to investigate predator-prey interactions and trophic structure of the pelagic fish community of the Bay of Biscay (BoB) in spring and late summer of 2020 and 2021. We found that trophic guilds were more influenced by intra-specific affinities rather than seasonal variability. Main prey for the pelagic fish comprised a set of species belonging to different trophic positions (TPs), from low TP class Thaliacea (salps) to mid TP Engraulis encrasicolus. Vertically migrating meso- and macrozooplankton (mainly copepods and krill) also played an important role as food source for the pelagic fish community showing high trophic overlap among most of species. No differences were detected between the trophic structure in spring and late summer with fish, squids and chaetognaths at the top TPs, whereas krill, meso-zooplankton and salps had the lowest values. However, the TPs estimated using both SCA and SIA approaches were consistently lower in spring, likely due to higher densities and, thus, low TP prey availability in spring. When analyzing ontogenic changes in TPs with predator’s size, significant and positive relationships were found when TP was estimated using SIA but not when using SCA. Overall, our results reveal new insights into the seasonal trophic dynamics of the pelagic fish community of the BoB. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T14:24:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-29f9e18aaef14710b0ec167c60233792 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T14:24:06Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-29f9e18aaef14710b0ec167c602337922023-08-18T11:22:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452023-08-011010.3389/fmars.2023.11853761185376Influence of seasonal variability on the trophic structure of pelagic communitiesBeñat Iglesias0Maite Louzao1Eneko Bachiller2Lucía López-López3María Santos4Guillermo Boyra5Eider Andonegi6Unai Cotano7Izaskun Preciado8AZTI Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Pasaia, SpainAZTI Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Pasaia, SpainAZTI Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Pasaia, SpainInstituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), Centro Oceanográfico de Santander, Santander, SpainAZTI Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Pasaia, SpainAZTI Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Pasaia, SpainAZTI Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Pasaia, SpainAZTI Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Pasaia, SpainInstituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO-CSIC), Centro Oceanográfico de Santander, Santander, SpainSeasonal variations in hydrodynamic conditions play a critical role in prey availability at the base of the food web and thus have implications for trophic interactions at higher trophic levels. Here we use the combination of stomach content analysis (SCA) and stable isotope analysis (SIA) to investigate predator-prey interactions and trophic structure of the pelagic fish community of the Bay of Biscay (BoB) in spring and late summer of 2020 and 2021. We found that trophic guilds were more influenced by intra-specific affinities rather than seasonal variability. Main prey for the pelagic fish comprised a set of species belonging to different trophic positions (TPs), from low TP class Thaliacea (salps) to mid TP Engraulis encrasicolus. Vertically migrating meso- and macrozooplankton (mainly copepods and krill) also played an important role as food source for the pelagic fish community showing high trophic overlap among most of species. No differences were detected between the trophic structure in spring and late summer with fish, squids and chaetognaths at the top TPs, whereas krill, meso-zooplankton and salps had the lowest values. However, the TPs estimated using both SCA and SIA approaches were consistently lower in spring, likely due to higher densities and, thus, low TP prey availability in spring. When analyzing ontogenic changes in TPs with predator’s size, significant and positive relationships were found when TP was estimated using SIA but not when using SCA. Overall, our results reveal new insights into the seasonal trophic dynamics of the pelagic fish community of the BoB.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1185376/fulltrophic structurepelagic fishstomach contentsstable isotopesBay of Biscaytrophic position |
| spellingShingle | Beñat Iglesias Maite Louzao Eneko Bachiller Lucía López-López María Santos Guillermo Boyra Eider Andonegi Unai Cotano Izaskun Preciado Influence of seasonal variability on the trophic structure of pelagic communities Frontiers in Marine Science trophic structure pelagic fish stomach contents stable isotopes Bay of Biscay trophic position |
| title | Influence of seasonal variability on the trophic structure of pelagic communities |
| title_full | Influence of seasonal variability on the trophic structure of pelagic communities |
| title_fullStr | Influence of seasonal variability on the trophic structure of pelagic communities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Influence of seasonal variability on the trophic structure of pelagic communities |
| title_short | Influence of seasonal variability on the trophic structure of pelagic communities |
| title_sort | influence of seasonal variability on the trophic structure of pelagic communities |
| topic | trophic structure pelagic fish stomach contents stable isotopes Bay of Biscay trophic position |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1185376/full |
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