Journal article
Estimating consumption rates of juvenile sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, using a bioenergetics model
Fishery bulletin (Washington, D.C.), Vol.104(3), pp.332-342
07/01/2006
Abstract
Using a bioenergetics model, we estimated daily ration and seasonal prey consumption rates for six age classes of juvenile sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) in the lower Chesapeake Bay summer nursery area. The model, incorporating habitat and species-specific data on growth rates, metabolic rate, diet composition, water temperature (range 16.8-27.9 degree C), and population structure, predicted mean daily rations between 2.17 plus or minus 0.03 (age-0) and 1.30 plus or minus 0.02 (age-5) % body mass/day. These daily rations are higher than earlier predictions for sandbar sharks but are comparable to those for ecologically similar shark species. The total nursery population of sandbar sharks was predicted to consume similar to 124,000 kg of prey during their 4.5 month stay in the Chesapeake Bay nursery. The predicted consumption rates support the conclusion that juvenile sandbar sharks exert a lesser topdown effect on the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem than do teleost piscivores and humans.
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Details
- Title
- Estimating consumption rates of juvenile sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, using a bioenergetics model
- Creators
- W W Dowd - Washington State University, Biological Sciences, School ofR W BrillP G BushnellJ A Musick
- Publication Details
- Fishery bulletin (Washington, D.C.), Vol.104(3), pp.332-342
- Academic Unit
- Biological Sciences, School of
- Identifiers
- 99900591861601842
- Copyright
- Fishery Bulletin is an open access journal. All content is available without charge to the user and is in the public domain. One can read, download, copy, distribute, print, and search articles, provide links to the full texts of articles, and use articles for any lawful purpose, without asking permission from the publisher or author. In addition, there are no fees to publish with Fishery Bulletin.
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article