Abstract
Annual killifish of the genus Nothobranchius often co-occur in temporary savannah pools. Their space- and time-limited environment does not allow for any substantial habitat or temporal segregation. Coexisting species are therefore predicted to have well separated trophic niches to avoid intense food competition. Although in a previous “snapshot” study using stomach content analysis (SCA), the trophic niches of three sympatric species (N. furzeri, N. orthonotus, and N. pienaari) were found to vary among species, the difference was relatively weak and inconsistent across different sites. Here, we used the time-integrative capacity of stable isotope analysis to test whether the trophic niches of sympatric Mozambican Nothobranchius are more distinct over a long-term period. Analysis of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes separated the trophic niche and trophic position of N. pienaari but failed to find any difference between N. furzeri/N. kadleci and N. orthonotus. No segregation was found at the sites with low prey diversity. In contrast, SCA identified N. orthonotus as the species with the most distinct trophic niche. We discuss the effect of prey diversity and different sensitivities of stomach content and stable isotope analysis in general and conclude that the trophic niches of the three sympatric Nothobranchius species are well separated.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allan, D. G., M. T. Seaman & M. Kaletja, 1995. Endorheic pans of South Africa. In Cowan, G. I. (ed.), Wetlands of South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Pretoria: 75–101.
Anderson, M. J., 2001. A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Austral Ecology 26: 32–46.
Anderson, M. J., R. N. Gorley & K. R. Clarke, 2004. Permanova+ for Primer: Guide to Software and Statistical Methods. PRIMER-R, Plymouth, UK.
Bearhop, S., C. E. Adams, S. Waldron, R. A. Fuller & H. Macleod, 2004. Determining trophic niche width: a novel approach using stable isotope analysis. Journal of Animal Ecology 73: 1007–1012.
Cabana, G. & J. B. Rasmussen, 1996. Comparison of aquatic food chains using nitrogen isotopes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 93: 10844–10847.
Curry-Lindahl, K., 1956. On the ecology, feeding behaviour and territoriality of the African lungfish, Protopterus aethiopicus Heckel. Arkiv für Zoologi 9: 479–497.
Davis, A. M., M. L. Blanchette, B. J. Pusey, T. D. Jardine & R. G. Pearson, 2012. Gut content and stable isotope analyses provide complementary understanding of ontogenetic dietary shifts and trophic relationships among fishes in a tropical river. Freshwater Biology 57: 2156–2172.
DeNiro, M. J. & S. Epstein, 1977. Mechanism of carbon isotope fractionation associated with lipid synthesis. Science 197: 261–263.
Dorn, A., E. Ng’oma, K. Janko, K. Reichwald, M. Polačik, M. Platzer, A. Cellerino & M. Reichard, 2011. Phylogeny, genetic variability and colour polymorphism of an emerging animal model: the short-lived annual Nothobranchius fishes from southern Mozambique. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 61: 739–749.
Ferreiro, N., C. Feijoó, A. Giorgi & L. Leggieri, 2011. Effects of macrophyte heterogeneity and food availability on structural parameters of the macroinvertebrate community in Pampean stream. Hydrobiologia 664: 199–211.
Frost, S., 1971. Evaluation of kicking technique for sampling stream bottom fauna. Canadian Journal of Zoology 49: 167–173.
Gause, G. F., 1934. The Struggle for Existence. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore.
Kiljunen, M., J. Grey, T. Sinisalo, C. Harrod, H. Immonen & R. I. Jones, 2006. A revised model for lipid normalizing δ13C values from aquatic organisms, with implications for isotope mixing models. Journal of Applied Ecology 43: 1213–1222.
Laufer, G., M. Arim, M. Loureiro, J. M. Pineiro-Guerra, S. Clavijo-baquet & C. Fagúndez, 2009. Diet of four annual killifishes: an intra and interspecific comparison. Neotropical Ichthyology 7: 77–86.
Mantel, S. K., M. Salas & D. Dudgeon, 2004. Foodweb structure in a tropical Asian forest stream. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 23: 728–755.
McCutchan, J. H., W. M. Lewis, C. Kendall & C. C. McGrath, 2003. Variation in trophic shift for stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Oikos 102: 378–390.
Meintjes, S., 1996. Seasonal changes in the invertebrate community of small shallow ephemeral pans at Bain’s Vlei, South Africa. Hydrobiologia 317: 51–64.
Nagelkerken, I., G. van der Velde, S. L. Wartenbergh, M. M. Nugues & M. S. Pratchett, 2009. Cryptic dietary components reduce dietary overlap among sympatric butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae). Journal of Fish Biology 75: 1123–1143.
Perga, M. E. & D. Gerdeaux, 2005. “Are fish what they eat” all year round? Oecologia 14: 598–606.
Polačik, M. & M. Reichard, 2010. Diet overlap among three sympatric African annual killifish species (Nothobranchius spp.) from Mozambique. Journal of Fish Biology 77: 754–768.
Polačik, M. & M. Reichard, 2011. Asymmetric reproductive isolation between two sympatric annual killifish with extremely short lifespans. PLoS ONE 6: e22684.
Polačik, M., M. T. Donner & M. Reichard, 2011. Age structure of annual Nothobranchius fishes in Mozambique: is there a hatching synchrony? Journal of Fish Biology 78: 796–809.
Reichard, M., 2010. Nothobranchius kadleci (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae), a new species of annual killifish from central Mozambique. Zootaxa 2332: 49–60.
Reichard, M., M. Polačik & O. Sedláček, 2009. Distribution, colour polymorphism and habitat use of the African killifish Nothobranchius furzeri, the vertebrate with the shortest life span. Journal of Fish Biology 74: 198–212.
Schiesari, L., E. E. Werner & G. W. Kling, 2009. Carnivory and resource-based niche differentiation in anuran larvae: implications for food web and experimental ecology. Freshwater Biology 54: 572–586.
Sitnikova, T., S. I. Kiyashko, N. Maximova, G. V. Pomazkina, P. Roepstorf, E. Wada & E. Michel, 2012. Resource partitioning in endemic species of Baikal gastropods indicated by gut contents, stable isotopes and radular morphology. Hydrobiologia 682: 75–90.
Syväranta, J., S. Vesala, M. Rask, J. Ruuhijärvi & R. Jones, 2008. Evaluating the utility of stable isotope analyses of archived freshwater sample materials. Hydrobiologia 600: 121–130.
Tieszen, L. L., T. W. Boutton, K. G. Tesdahl & N. A. Slade, 1983. Fractionation and turnover of stable carbon isotopes in animal tissues: implications for δ13C analysis of diet. Oecologia 57: 32–37.
Watters, B. R., 2009. The ecology and distribution of Nothobranchius fishes. Journal of the American Killifish Association 42: 37–76.
Wildekamp, R. H., 2004. A World of Killies: Atlas of the Oviparous Cyprinodontiform Fishes of the World. American Killifish Association, Elyria.
Wilson, J. D., C. T. Winne, M. A. Pilgrim, C. S. Romanek & J. W. Gibbons, 2010. Seasonal variation in terrestrial resource subsidies influences trophic niche width and overlap in two aquatic snake species: a stable isotope approach. Oikos 119: 1161–1171.
Acknowledgements
Funding came from the Czech Science Foundation, Project P505/11/P646 to M. P. The authors would like to thank three anonymous referees whose comments greatly improved the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Handling editor: I.A. Nagelkerken
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Polačik, M., Harrod, C., Blažek, R. et al. Trophic niche partitioning in communities of African annual fish: evidence from stable isotopes. Hydrobiologia 721, 99–106 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1652-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1652-0