Abstract
As apex predators, sharks are of ecological and conservation importance in marine ecosystems. In this study, trophic positions of sharks were estimated using stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen for five representative species caught by the Chinese longline fleet in the mid-east Pacific, i.e., the blue shark (Prionace glauca), the bigeye thresher shark (Alopias superciliosus), the silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis), the scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini), and the oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus). Of these species, oceanic whitetip shark has the lowest trophic level and mean δ15N value (3.9 and 14.93‰ ± 0.84‰), whereas bigeye thresher shark has the highest level/values (4.5 and 17.02‰ ± 1.21‰, respectively). The bigeye thresher shark has significantly higher δ15N value than other shark species, indicating its higher trophic position. The blue shark and oceanic whitetip shark has significantly higher δ13C values than bigeye thresher shark, silky shark and scalloped hammerhead, possibly due to different diets and/or living habitats. The stable isotope data and stomach content data are highly consistent, suggesting that stable isotope analysis supplements traditional feeding ecology study of sharks, and thus contributes to understanding their trophic linkage.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baum, J. K., and Worm, B., 2009. Cascading top-down effects of changing oceanic predator abundances. Journal of Animal Ecology, 78: 699–714.
Bonfil, R., Meÿer, M., Sholl, M. C., Johnson, R., O’Brien, S., Oosthhuzien, H., Swanson, S., Kotze, D., and Paterson, M., 2005. Transoceanic migration, spatial dynamics, and population linkages of white sharks. Science, 310: 100–103.
Borrell, A., Cardona, L., Kumarran, R. P., and Aguilar, A., 2011. Trophic ecology of elasmobranchs caught off Gujarat, India, as inferred from stable isotopes. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 63: 547–554.
Bowman, R. E., Stillwell, C. E., Michaels, W. L., and Grosslein, M. D., 2000. Food of northwest Atlantic fishes and two common species of squid. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-NE-155, 149pp.
Cabana, G., and Rasmussen, J. B., 1994. Modelling food chain structure and contaminant bioaccumulation using stable nitrogen isotopes. Nature, 372: 255–257.
Cherel, Y., Hobson, K. A., and Weimerskirch, H., 2000. Using stable-isotope analysis of feathers to distinguish molting and breeding origins of seabirds. Oecologia, 122: 155–162.
Cortés, E., 1999. Standardized diet compositions and trophic levels of sharks. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 56: 707–717.
Estrada, J. A., Rice, A. N., Lutcavage, M. E., and Skomal, G. B., 2003. Predicting trophic position in sharks of the north-west Atlantic Ocean using stable isotope analysis. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 83: 1347–1350.
France, R. L., 1995. Carbon-13 enrichment in benthic compared to planktonic algae: foodweb implications. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 84: 9–18.
Fry, B., 2007. Stable Isotope Ecology. Springer, 320pp.
Guzzo, M. M., Haffner, G. D., Sorge, S., Rush, S. A., and Fisk, A. T., 2011. Spatial and temporal variabilities of δ15N and δ13C and δ15N within lower trophic levels of a large lake: implications for estimating trophic relationships of consumers. Hydrobiologia, 675: 41–53.
Hobson, K. A., 1999. Tracing origins and migration of wildlife using stable isotopes: a review. Oecologia, 120: 314–326.
Hobson, K. A., Piatt, J. F., and Pitocchelli, J., 1994. Using stable isotopes to determine seabird trophic relationships. Journal of Animal Ecology, 63: 786–798.
Hussey, N. E., Brush, J., McCarthy, I. D., and Fish, A. T., 2010. δ15N and δ13C diet-tissue discrimination factors for large sharks under semi-controlled conditions. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A, 155: 445–453.
Hussey, N. E., Dudley, S. F. J., McCarthy, L. D., Cliff, G., and Fish, A. T., 2011. Stable isotope profiles of large marine predators: viable indicators of trophic position, diet, and movement in sharks?. Canadian Journal of Fish and Aquatic Science, 68: 2029–2045.
Hussey, N. E., MacHeil, M. A., McMeans, B. C., Kinney, M. J., Chapman, D. D., and Fish, A. T., 2012. Stable isotopes and elasmobranchs: tissue types, methods, applications and assumptions. Journal of Fish Biology, 80: 1449–1484.
Kim, S. L., and Koch, P. L., 2011. Methods to collect, preserve, and prepare elasmobranch tissues for stable isotope analysis. Environmental Biology of Fish, DOI: 10.1007/s10641-011-9860-9.
Layman, C., Arrington, D. A., Montaña, C. G., and Post, D. M., 2007. Can stable isotope ratios provide for community-wide measures of trophic structure?. Ecology, 88: 42–48.
Link, J., 2002. Does food web theory work for marine ecosystems? Marine Ecology Progress Series, 230: 1–9.
MacNeil, M. A., Skmal, G. B., and Fish, A. T., 2005. Stable isotopes from multiple tissues reveal diet switching in sharks. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 203: 199–206.
Minagawa, M., and Wada, E., 1984. Step-wise enrichment of 15N along food chains further evidence and the relation between 15N and animal age. Geochim Cosmochim, 48: 1135–1140.
Myers, R. A., Baum, J. K., Shepherd, T. D., Powers, S. P., and Peterson, C. H., 2007. Cascading effects of the loss of apex predatory sharks from a coastal ocean. Science, 315: 1846–1850.
Peterson, B. J., and Fry, B., 1987. Stable isotopes in ecosystem studies. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 18: 293–320.
Popp, B. N., Graham, B. S., Olson, R. J., Hannides, C. C. S., Lott, M. J., Lopez-Ibarra, G. A., Galvan-Magana, F., and Fry, B., 2007. Insight into the trophic ecology of yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, from compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis of protenaceous amino acids. In: Stable Isotopes as Indicators of Ecological Change. Dawson, T., and Siegwolf, R., eds., Elsevier Academic Press, Terrestrial Ecology Series, 173–190.
Post, D. M., 2002. Using stable isotopes to estimate trophic position: Models, methods, and assumptions. Ecology, 83: 703–718.
Post, D. M., Laymen, C. A., Albrey Arrington, D., Takimoto, G., Quattrochi, J., and Montaña, C. G., 2007. Getting to the fat of the matter: models, methods and assumptions for dealing with lipids in stable isotope analyses. Oecologia, 152: 179–189.
Rau, G. H., Mearns, A. J., Young, D. R., Olson, R. J., Shafer, H. A., and Kaplan, I. R., 1983. Animal 13C/12C correlates with trophic level in pelagic food webs. Ecology, 64: 1314–1318.
Reum, J. C. P., 2011. Lipid correction model of carbon stable isotopes for a cosmopolitan predator, spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias. Journal of Fish Biology, 79: 2060–2066.
Wolf, N., Carleton, S. A., and Martínez del Rio, C., 2009. Ten years of experimental animal isotopic ecology. Functional Ecology, 23: 17–26.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, Y., Gong, Y., Chen, X. et al. Trophic ecology of sharks in the mid-east Pacific ocean inferred from stable isotopes. J. Ocean Univ. China 13, 278–282 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-014-2071-1
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-014-2071-1