TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of turbidity and cover on prey selectivity of adult smallmouth bass
AU - Carter, Mark W.
AU - Shoup, Daniel E.
AU - Dettmers, John M.
AU - Wahl, David H.
N1 - We thank L. Einfalt for help maintaining experimental fish at the INHS Kaskaskia Biological Station. M. Weber and staff at the Lake Michigan Biological Station and Sam Parr Biological Station helped collect fish. The comments of two anonymous reviewers substantially improved this manuscript. Funding for this project was partially provided by a grant from the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance and from the R. Weldon Larimore Research Grant administered by the INHS. Additional support was provided by the INHS and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Environmental factors such as turbidity and habitat complexity affect many aspects of aquatic food webs, including predator-prey interactions. We examined the effects of turbidity (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 nephelometric turbidity units [NTU]) and cover (presence or absence) on prey selection by adult smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu (mean ± SD = 290 ± 41 mm total length) in laboratory pools. Individual predators were given a choice of five northern crayfish Orconectes virilis, five golden shiners Notemigonus crysoleucas (a pelagic fish), or five round goby Neogobius melanostomus (an invasive benthic fish). Smallmouth bass selected round goby at low turbidities (0 and 5 NTU) and golden shiners at the highest turbidity (40 NTU) in trials without cover. With cover, smallmouth bass increased selectivity for golden shiners, particularly at the turbidity extremes (0, 20, and 40 NTU). Northern crayfish were negatively or neutrally selected in all trials across both turbidity and cover treatments. Turbidity had a greater effect than cover on prey consumption rate, which decreased as turbidity increased. Our results suggest that turbidity and cover, two important environmental variables, can influence prey selectivity by smallmouth bass.
AB - Environmental factors such as turbidity and habitat complexity affect many aspects of aquatic food webs, including predator-prey interactions. We examined the effects of turbidity (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 nephelometric turbidity units [NTU]) and cover (presence or absence) on prey selection by adult smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu (mean ± SD = 290 ± 41 mm total length) in laboratory pools. Individual predators were given a choice of five northern crayfish Orconectes virilis, five golden shiners Notemigonus crysoleucas (a pelagic fish), or five round goby Neogobius melanostomus (an invasive benthic fish). Smallmouth bass selected round goby at low turbidities (0 and 5 NTU) and golden shiners at the highest turbidity (40 NTU) in trials without cover. With cover, smallmouth bass increased selectivity for golden shiners, particularly at the turbidity extremes (0, 20, and 40 NTU). Northern crayfish were negatively or neutrally selected in all trials across both turbidity and cover treatments. Turbidity had a greater effect than cover on prey consumption rate, which decreased as turbidity increased. Our results suggest that turbidity and cover, two important environmental variables, can influence prey selectivity by smallmouth bass.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/79954480982
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/79954480982#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1577/T08-159.1
DO - 10.1577/T08-159.1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79954480982
SN - 0002-8487
VL - 139
SP - 353
EP - 361
JO - Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
JF - Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
IS - 2
ER -