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Trophic resource partitioning by sympatric ecomorphs of Schizopygopsis (Cyprinidae) in a young Pamir Mountain lake: preliminary results

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Abstract

Four sympatric ecomorphs – detritivorous, predator, benthivorous, and phytophagous – of the cyprinid fish Schizopygopsis stolickai were recorded in a young Pamir lake, Lake Yashilkul, located at > 3,700 m above sea level. Some ecomorphs are divergent in diet, gut length, and stable isotopes of δ13C and δ15N. The predator ecomorph has a shorter gut, and is the most enriched in δ15N (14.5‰), indicating its occupation of the highest trophic level. The lowest δ15N values (11.1‰) were detected in the detritivorous ecomorph. There was significant overlap in the diet of some individuals belonging to different ecomorphs, reflecting high trophic plasticity despite ongoing trophic specialization.

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Acknowledgements

We are very thankful to O. Artaev, N. Mirzoev, and R. Thoni for their valuable help in the field, as well as to O. Artaev for photographing the fish and creating the map, and to A. Sazhnev for beetle identification. We are grateful to A. Tiunov for his support during stable isotopes analyses. Additionally, we are grateful to the staff of the National Park ‘Lake Yashilkul’ for their kind assistance. We are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for reviews that helped to improve the manuscript. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant no. 19-14-00218). All experimental protocols were approved by IBIW Research Ethics Committee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Papanin Institute of Biology of Inland Waters, Russian Academy of Sciences, Borok, Russia

    Aleksandra S. Komarova & Boris A. Levin

  2. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Oksana L. Rozanova

  3. Cherepovets State University, Cherepovets, Russia

    Boris A. Levin

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  1. Aleksandra S. Komarova
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  2. Oksana L. Rozanova
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  3. Boris A. Levin
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Correspondence to Boris A. Levin.

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Komarova, A.S., Rozanova, O.L. & Levin, B.A. Trophic resource partitioning by sympatric ecomorphs of Schizopygopsis (Cyprinidae) in a young Pamir Mountain lake: preliminary results. Ichthyol Res 68, 191–197 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-020-00773-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-020-00773-3

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