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Stingray life history trade-offs associated with nursery habitat use inferred from a bioenergetics model

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Abstract

Consumption rates of marine predators are vital to assessing their trophic impacts and potential consequences of fisheries removal and habitat alteration, yet are rarely estimated. Standard metabolic rates were estimated for juvenile brown stingrays, Dasyatis lata, and used as input parameters for a bioenergetics model to predict consumption rates. Temperature and mass had significant effects on metabolic rates. The energy budget of juvenile brown stingrays was heavily weighted toward metabolism, accounting for 66 % of consumed energy. Growth accounted for 7 % of the energy budget indicating very slow growth potentially due to limited food resources. Population consumption rates suggest potential for strong top-down effects on prey populations due to stingray predation. This study suggests the use of Kāne‘ohe Bay as a nursery habitat for juvenile brown stingrays is a trade-off between increased juvenile survival through predator avoidance and a late age at first maturity due to slow growth rates resulting from low prey availability.

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Acknowledgments

We thank M. Burns, A. Stankus, C. Clark and C. Espasandin for assistance with the collection and husbandry of animals used in this study. For general support and assistance, we thank Y. Papastamatiou, M. Hutchinson, J. Anderson, C. Meyer and K. Gavey. Special thanks to M. Donahue for modeling insight, N. Condon for assistance with proximate analysis, R. Kanno for assistance with respirometer design and construction, and C. Lowe for equipment. This manuscript was improved by the comments of two anonymous reviewers. Partial funding was provided by the PADI Foundation (2007-324). This study was carried out in accordance with the animal use protocols of the University of Hawaii (protocol 06-030-5).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, 93950, USA

    Jonathan J. Dale

  2. Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai‘i, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Jeffrey C. Drazen

  3. Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai‘i, Kāne‘ohe, HI, 96744, USA

    Kim N. Holland

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  1. Jonathan J. Dale
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  2. Jeffrey C. Drazen
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Correspondence to Jonathan J. Dale.

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Communicated by M. A. Peck.

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Dale, J.J., Drazen, J.C. & Holland, K.N. Stingray life history trade-offs associated with nursery habitat use inferred from a bioenergetics model. Mar Biol 160, 3181–3192 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2305-6

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