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Role of body size and temporal hydrology in the dietary shifts of shortjaw tapertail anchovy Coilia brachygnathus (Actinopterygii, Engraulidae) in a large floodplain lake

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Abstract

Seasonal water-level changes in floodplain lakes can induce variations in primary and secondary production, thus affecting trophic interactions. In this study, we tested the latter by studying size- and temporal hydrology-related shifts in the diet of shortjaw tapertail anchovy Coilia brachygnathus (Actinopterygii, Engraulidae) from Lake Poyang. During the wet season, δ13C values ranged from −28.2‰ for small anchovies to −24.6‰ for larger individuals, but δ15N ranged from 18.9‰ for smaller fish to 12.4‰ for larger fish. Significant 13C-enrichment and 15N-depletion occurred with increasing size, revealing that different carbon sources were used as the fish grew. Given the high hydrologic fluctuation levels, significant differences in δ13C values were observed among larger anchovies between seasons, indicating a temporal dietary shift. Anchovies fed primarily on shrimp and fish during the low-water season despite the predominance of zooplankton during the two seasons studied, which indicated increased piscivorous reliance. C. brachygnathus exhibited higher δ15N values during the wet season because the food items were 15N-enriched. Human waste brought by floods could be another possible interpretation. Considering C. brachygnathus is an important link between plankton production and higher piscivorous trophic levels, changes in the species are expected to affect the functioning of lake food webs along the trophic pathway.

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Acknowledgments

We thank L. Liu and Y. Xiong for their assistance during field work. We also thank Yuyu Wang for providing partial data on zooplankton. This research is partially supported by the National Basic Research Program (Grant No. 2008CB418001-1) and by the National Natural Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 31170439 and 30870428 to JX) of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Huan Zhang, Ping Xie & Qiong Zhou

  2. Donghu Experimental Station of Lake Ecosystems, States Key of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, People’s Republic of China

    Huan Zhang, Gongguo Wu, Huan Zhang, Ping Xie & Jun Xu

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  1. Huan Zhang
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Correspondence to Ping Xie or Jun Xu.

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10750_2012_1370_MOESM1_ESM.docx

Supplementary Table 1. Number of individuals, body length (mm), and the δ13C and δ15N values of shrimp and three other fish prey items of C. brachygnathus collected in Lake Poyang during the wet and dry seasons. Values are expressed as means ± standard deviation (SD). (DOCX 19 kb)

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Zhang, H., Wu, G., Zhang, H. et al. Role of body size and temporal hydrology in the dietary shifts of shortjaw tapertail anchovy Coilia brachygnathus (Actinopterygii, Engraulidae) in a large floodplain lake. Hydrobiologia 703, 247–256 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-012-1370-z

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