Behavioral and physiological responses to prey match-mismatch in larval herring
Authored by Myron A Peck, Marc Hufnagl, Marta Moyano, Bjoern Illing, Julia Berg
Date Published: 2018
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecss.2016.01.003
Sponsors:
European Union
Platforms:
No platforms listed
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
The year-class success of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) spawning in
the autumn/winter in the North Sea (NSAS stock) and in the spring in the
western Baltic Sea (WBSS) appears driven by prey match mismatch dynamics
affecting the survival of larvae during the first weeks of life. To
better understand and model the consequences of prey match-mismatch from
an individual-based perspective, we measured aspects of the physiology
and behavior of NSAS and WBSS herring larvae foraging in markedly
different prey concentrations. When matched with prey (ad libitum
concentrations of the copepod Acartia tonsa) larval growth, swimming
activity, nutritional condition and metabolic rates were relatively
high. When prey was absent (mismatch), swimming and feeding behavior
rapidly declined within 2 and 4 days, for WBSS and NSAS larvae,
respectively, concomitant with reductions in nutritional (RNA-DNA ratio)
and somatic (weight-at-length) condition. After several days without
prey, respiration measurements made on WBSS larvae suggested metabolic
down-regulation (8-34\%). An individual-based model depicting the time
course of these Behavioral and physiological responses suggested that
25-mm larvae experiencing a mismatch would survive 25-33\% (10, 7
degrees C) longer than 12-mm larvae. Warmer temperatures exacerbate
starvation-induced decrements in performance. Without Behavioral and
metabolic adjustments, survival of 25-mm larvae would be reduced from 8
to 6 days at 7 degrees C. Our findings highlight how adaptive Behavioral
and physiological responses are tightly linked to prey match-mismatch
dynamics in larval herring and how these responses can be included in
models to better explore how bottom-up processes regulate larval fish
growth and survival. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Tags
Individual-based model
Marine fish
Life-history
Respiration
Food-deprivation
Fish larvae
Class strength
Resting metabolic-rate
Clupea-harengus l.
Match-mismatch
Rna-dna ratio
Atlantic herring
Rna-dna
Swimming
performance
Recruitment failure