Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Quantitative Relationships between Predatory and Nonpredatory Animals in Freshwater Ecosystems

  • Published:
Russian Journal of Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The ratios between the sizes of predators and prey have been estimated. On average, the linear sizes and body weights of aquatic predatory animals are approximately three and nine times greater, respectively, than those of nonpredatory animals. The biomass of predators in waters with different productivity levels is, on average, about 20% of the biomass of nonpredatory animals. However, the ratio between the biomasses of predatory and nonpredatory animals in the same water body may vary seasonally and annually and differ in different parts of this water body. The average numbers of predatory fish in ichthyocenoses are no more than 3% of the numbers of nonpredatory fish. The living space (individual range) of predatory fish is about 40 times larger than that of their prey. The relatively low numbers of predators in water bodies may be accounted for by the lower number of predatory species and their higher mortality at early developmental stages, compared to nonpredatory species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Biologicheskaya produktivnost' ozera Arakhlei (Zabaikal'e) (Biological Productivity of Lake Arakhlei, the Transbaikal Region), Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1981.

  • Biologicheskaya produktivnost' severnykh ozer. Ch. 1. Ozera Krivoe i Krugloe (Biological Productivity of Northern Lakes. Part 1: Lakes Krivoe and Krugloe), Leningrad: Nauka, 1975a.

  • Biologicheskaya produktivnost' severnykh ozer. Ch. 2. Ozera Zelenetskoe i Akul'kino (Biological Productivity of Northern Lakes. Part 2: Lakes Zelenetskoe and Akul'kino), Leningrad: Nauka, 1975b.

  • Bystrova, A.N., Zoobenthos of Lake Irkana, Sb. Tr. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Ozern. Rechn. Rybn. Khoz., 1988, no. 279, pp. 35-47.

  • Dzyumenko, Z.M., Zooplankton Productivity in Lake Kotokel', Sb. Tr. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Ozern. Rechn. Rybn. Khoz., 1988, no. 279, pp. 78-87.

  • Ekologicheskaya sistema Narochanskikh ozer (The Ecologi-cal System of Narochanskie Lakes), Minsk: Byelorus. Gos. Univ., 1985.

  • Ermolin, V.P., Accessibility of Prey Fish to Predatory Fish, Sb. Tr. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Ozern. Rechn. Rybn. Khoz., 1982, no. 182, pp. 176-190.

  • Fedorova, G.V., The Size of Commercial Fish Stocks in Lake Ladoga and Their Harvesting, Sb. Tr. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Ozern. Rechn. Rybn. Khoz., 1985, no. 237, pp. 3-12.

  • Frost, E., The Food of Pike Esox L. in Windermere, J. Anim. Ecol., 1954, vol. 23, pp. 339-360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Issledovanie vzaimosvyazi kormovoi bazy i ryboproduk-tivnosti na primere ozer Zabaikal'ya (Studies on the Interrelation of Food Resources and Fish Productivity in the Lakes of the Transbaikal Region), Leningrad: Nauka, 1986.

  • Ivannikov, V.I., The Feeding of Pike Esox lucius L. in Lake Il'men', Sb. Tr. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Ozern. Rechn. Rybn. Khoz., 1991, no. 310, pp. 148-164.

  • Ivanov, V.K., Characteristics of the Predator–Prey Interactions and the Horizontal Distribution of Macrozoobenthos in Small Lakes of Different Types, Ekologiya, 2000, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 426-431.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivanova, M.B., Produktsiya planktonnykh rakoobraznykh v presnykh vodakh (Production of Planktonic Crustaceans in Fresh Waters), Leningrad: Zool. Inst. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffries, M.J. and Lawton, J.H., Predator–Prey Ratios in Communities of Freshwater Invertebrates: The Role of. Enemy Free Space, Freshwater Biol., 1985, vol. 15, pp. 105-112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krylov, P.I., The Feeding of Freshwater Predatory Zooplankton, Itogi Nauki Tekh., Ser.: Obshch. Ekol. Biotsenol. Gidro-biol., Moscow: VINITI, 1989, vol. 7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuderskii, L.A., Dinamika stad promyslovykh ryb vnutrennikh vodoemov (The Dynamics of Commercial Fish Stocks in Inland Water Bodies), Moscow: Nauka, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kukuradze, A.M., Materials on the Feeding of Pike Perch Lucioperca lucioperca (L.) in the Danube River Delta and Water Bodies of the Danube Basin, Vopr. Ikhtiol., 1974, vol. 14, no. 6(89), pp. 1066-1075.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuz'mich, V.N. and Budaeva, L.I., Zoobenthos Productivity in Lakes Bol'shoe and Maloe Kopylyushi, Sb. Tr. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Ozern. Rechn. Rybn. Khoz., 1987, no. 272, pp. 77-96.

  • Mann, R.N.K., Observations of Age, Growth, Reproduction and Food of Pike Esox luteus (L.) in Two Rivers in Southern England, J. Fish. Biol., 1976, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 179-198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moksul, G.A. and Nikitina, N.K., The Feeding of Pike Perch in the Krasnodar Reservoir, Sb. Tr. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Ozern. Rechn. Rybn. Khoz., 1984, no. 222, pp. 118-123.

  • Musatov, A.P., Prostranstvenno-vremennaya struktura vodnykh ekosistem (The Spatiotemporal Structure of Aquatic Ecosystems), Moscow: Nauka, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ozero Ubinskoe (biologicheskaya produktivnost' i perspek-tivy rybokhozyaistvennogo ispol'zovaniya) (Lake Ubinskoe: Biological Productivity and Prospects for Fish Husbandry), St. Petersburg, 1994.

  • Pitanie khishchnykh ryb i ikh vzaimootnosheniya s kor-movymi organizmami (The Feeding of Predatory Fish and Their Interactions with Food Organisms), Moscow: Nauka, 1965.

  • Produktivnost' ozer vostochnoi chasti Bol'shezemel'skoi tundry (The Productivity of Lakes in the Eastern Bol'shezemel'skaya Tundra), Leningrad: Nauka, 1976.

  • Produktsionno-biologicheskie issledovaniya ekosistem presnykh vod (Studies on the Biology and Production of Freshwater Ecosystems), Minsk: Byelorus. Gos. Univ., 1973.

  • Rudenko, G.P., Produktsionnye osobennosti ikhtiotsenozov malykh i srednikh ozer severozapada i ikh klassifikatsiya (Specific Features of Production in the Ichthyocenoses of Small and Medium Lakes of Northwestern Russia and Their Classification), St. Petersburg: Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Ozern. Rechn. Rybn. Khoz., 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaloznykh, D.V., The Feeding of Predatory Fish in the Cheboksary Reservoir in the First Years of Its Existence, Sb. Tr. Nauchno-Issled. Inst. Ozern. Rechn. Rybn. Khoz., 1987, no. 267, pp. 118-128.

  • Zhukov, P.I., Ryby Belorussii (The Fishes of Byelorussia), Minsk: Nauka i Tekhnika, 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zotin, A.I., Relative Fecundity and Egg Size in Fish, Vopr. Ikhtiol., 1961, vol. 1, no. 2(19), pp. 307-313.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    A. F. Alimov

Authors
  1. A. F. Alimov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Alimov, A.F. Quantitative Relationships between Predatory and Nonpredatory Animals in Freshwater Ecosystems. Russian Journal of Ecology 33, 286–290 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016276506334

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016276506334

Search

Navigation