Journal article
Fish assemblages across a vegetation gradient in a restoring tidal freshwater wetland: diets and potential for resource competition
Environmental biology of fishes, Vol.97(6), pp.659-674
06/2014
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/109138
Abstract
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.
Metrics
6 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Fish assemblages across a vegetation gradient in a restoring tidal freshwater wetland: diets and potential for resource competition
- Creators
- Sarah Whitley - School of the Environment Washington State University 14204 NE Salmon Creek Avenue Vancouver WA 98686-9600 USAStephen Bollens - School of the Environment Washington State University 14204 NE Salmon Creek Avenue Vancouver WA 98686-9600 USA
- Publication Details
- Environmental biology of fishes, Vol.97(6), pp.659-674
- Academic Unit
- Environment, School of the (CAS)
- Publisher
- Springer Netherlands; Dordrecht
- Identifiers
- 99900547276501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article