Abstract
Large-bodied animals, such as the Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas), may modify prey communities and affect their potential competitors for food resources by consuming large quantities of prey. The Mekong giant catfish is a key representative of freshwater megafauna and is stocked in reservoirs in Thailand for species conservation and fishery stock enhancement. However, their biological interactions with other sympatric animals remain unclear. Here, we aimed to investigate the trophic niche of the Mekong giant catfish in a Thai reservoir by comparing stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N, respectively) and fatty acid (FA) composition with those of five other sympatric fish species. The δ13C value of the Mekong giant catfish was –24.4 ± 1.0‰ (mean ± SD), the second highest among the sympatric fish species, suggesting relatively weak reliance on phytoplankton-based food chains. The δ15N value of the Mekong giant catfish was 10.7 ± 0.4‰, intermediate between those of herbivorous and carnivorous fishes, indicating that it is not a primary consumer. The FA composition of the Mekong giant catfish significantly differed from those of the other fish species and was characterized by a large proportion of long-chain FA, including 22:6n-3, 20:5n-3, and 20:1n-9. The δ13C, δ15N, and FA signatures suggest that the Mekong giant catfish occupy distinct trophic niches in food webs. Our results highlight that it is necessary to monitor the ecological impacts of released Mekong giant catfish on lower-level consumers through their foraging in receiving reservoirs.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the Kyoto University Research Information repository, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.14989/262474 (Medo et al. 2021).
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Acknowledgements
We thank the staff of the Kaeng Krachan Fisheries Patrol Unit for their assistance in sampling Mekong giant catfish. The experiments were conducted at the Cooperative Research Facilities (Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer) of the Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University. We thank the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology and Scientific Equipment Center, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University for their support with IRMS and GC analyses. We would like to thank Dr. Hideyuki Doi of Kyoto University for his comments on the manuscript.
Funding
This study was partly supported by (1) Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 16H05792; (2) JSPS Research Fellow Grant Number 22J13642; (3) Grant-in-Aid of JSPS Overseas Challenge Program for Young Researchers 202180216; (4) Grant-in-Aid of the Shikata Memorial Trust for Nature Conservation, Japan; and (5) Project-based management of the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (Grant number 25610919060008).
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Conceptualization: AM, NO, K. Koba, NA, TV, and HM; Methodology: AM, NO, K. Koba, and K. Kamdee; Formal analysis and investigation: AM, YM, HN, MK, CK, K. Kamdee, KI, IY, AY, HY, HK, DK, TN, and HM; Writing—original draft preparation: AM; Writing—review and editing: NO, K. Koba, HN, and HM with substantial help from all authors; Funding acquisition: AM, K. Kamdee, and HM; Resources: TV, K. Kamdee, and CK; Supervision: NO and HM.
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Medo, A., Ohte, N., Koba, K. et al. Trophic niche partitioning of Mekong giant catfish Pangasianodon gigas in a tropical reservoir: evidence from stable isotope and fatty acid analyses. Limnology 25, 199–210 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10201-024-00741-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10201-024-00741-0