Fish assemblages across a vegetation gradient in a restoring tidal freshwater wetland: diets and potential for resource competition

Marsh habitats have been the focus of recent worldwide restoration efforts due to their degradation and destruction as a result of human development. We assessed fish resource use at a naturally restoring marsh (Liberty Island, California, USA) by comparing diet composition, stomach fullness, normal...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Environmental biology of fishes Vol. 97; no. 6; pp. 659 - 674
Main Authors:	Whitley, Sarah N, Bollens, Stephen M
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Dordrecht Springer-Verlag 01-06-2014 Springer Netherlands Springer Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Agnatha. Pisces Animal and plant ecology Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography Animal, plant and microbial ecology Animals Autoecology Biological and medical sciences biomass Biomedical and Life Sciences Diet Endangered species Environment Fish Fresh water ecosystems Freshwater Freshwater & Marine Ecology Freshwater ecology Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General aspects gillnets Habitats Life Sciences Morone saxatilis Nature Conservation Percina caprodes Predation salt marshes Seasons Spring statistical analysis stomach summer Synecology Tidal waves Vegetation Vertebrata Vertebrates: general zoology, morphology, phylogeny, systematics, cytogenetics, geographical distribution Water resources management Wetlands Winter Zoology Zooplankton California INE, USA, California Competition Fish ecology Wetland restoration Diet Tidal marsh Resource partitioning Brackish water environment Ecology Resource sharing Tides Feeding Freshwater environment Salt marsh Resource repartition Vertebrata Animal community Pisces Vegetation Ecological recovery Wetland
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Summary:	Marsh habitats have been the focus of recent worldwide restoration efforts due to their degradation and destruction as a result of human development. We assessed fish resource use at a naturally restoring marsh (Liberty Island, California, USA) by comparing diet composition, stomach fullness, normalized stomach weight, and diet overlap across a vegetation gradient. Fish were collected using gill nets and fyke nets at six sites during spring 2010, summer 2011 and winter 2012. We analyzed 392 stomachs from the eleven most abundant species collected. Prey composition and biomass varied seasonally for all fish species, but there were no notable differences across sites or seasons for stomach fullness or normalized stomach weight for most fish species. Results from non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and two-way analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) indicated minimal diet overlap between species (R = 0.633, p = 0.001) and seasons (R = 0.413, p = 0.001). Seasonal habitat and resource use across the vegetation gradient was species-specific. Small but significant spatial diet differences were detected for inland silverside, striped bass and bigscale logperch. Delta smelt exhibited seasonal diet differences by shifting from chironomids and zooplankton during spring, to amphipods and zooplankton during winter. More generally, fish maintained stomach fullness across all sites and seasons while maintaining minimal dietary overlap. Our study emphasizes the importance of tidal marshes as feeding habitat for several fish species, including the endangered delta smelt.
Bibliography:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10641-013-0168-9 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0378-1909 1573-5133
DOI:	10.1007/s10641-013-0168-9