The comparison of the feeding of European perchPerca fluviatilisL. larvae in littoral and pelagic habitats of northern temperate lakes; pp. 336–349

Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences

article

Katrit Karus¹  Matiss Zagars¹  Helen Agasild²  Tõnu Feldmann²  Arvo Tuvikene²  Linda Puncule¹  Priit Zingel² 

[1] Institute for Environmental Solutions;Centre for Limnology, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Chair of Hydrobiology and Fishery, Estonian University of Life Sciences

关键词: exogenous feeding;    food selectivity;    habitat;    lakes;    perch larvae;    zooplankton;   

DOI  :  10.3176/proc.2022.4.04

学科分类：内科医学

来源: Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus

【 摘 要 】

We studied the feeding of European perch Perca fluviatilis L. larvae in littoral and pelagic habitats of four different lakes – one Latvian (Auciema) and three Estonian (Akste, Kaiavere, and Prossa). Altogether, 162 perch larvae (81 from both habitats) were collected to estimate the diet composition of gathered larval specimens in spring (2019) using gut content analysis via epifluorescence microscopy. Attention was paid particularly to the question how does the larval perch food composition differ in pelagic and littoral habitats. We hypothesized that the consumption of zooplankton is higher and the larval condition is better in littoral habitats. We assessed the feeding on both protozoo- (ciliates) and metazooplankton and applied multiple indices (Hurlbert’s standardized niche breadth, Ivlev’s selectivity and relative importance index) to evaluate, respectively, the larval fish prey importance, feeding homogeneity and strategies. The results showed that larval length and weight were slightly higher and body condition was slightly better in the lakes’ littoral habitats. The feeding niche of perch larvae was narrower in the littoral, which can indicate more favourable feeding conditions in littoral than lake pelagic habitats. While the small cladocerans (Bosmina longirostris40%. However, in shortage of cladocerans, ciliates could be vitally important food objects for perch larvae.

【 授权许可】

CC BY