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Fish mediate high food web connectivity in the lower reaches of a tropical floodplain river

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Abstract

High levels of hydrological connectivity during seasonal flooding provide significant opportunities for movements of fish between rivers and their floodplains, estuaries and the sea, possibly mediating food web subsidies among habitats. To determine the degree of utilisation of food sources from different habitats in a tropical river with a short floodplain inundation duration (~2 months), stable isotope ratios in fishes and their available food were measured from three habitats (inundated floodplain, dry season freshwater, coastal marine) in the lower reaches of the Mitchell River, Queensland (Australia). Floodplain food sources constituted the majority of the diet of large-bodied fishes (barramundi Lates calcarifer, catfish Neoarius graeffei) captured on the floodplain in the wet season and for gonadal tissues of a common herbivorous fish (gizzard shad Nematalosa come), the latter suggesting that critical reproductive phases are fuelled by floodplain production. Floodplain food sources also subsidised barramundi from the recreational fishery in adjacent coastal and estuarine areas, and the broader fish community from a freshwater lagoon. These findings highlight the importance of the floodplain in supporting the production of large fishes in spite of the episodic nature and relatively short duration of inundation compared to large river floodplains of humid tropical regions. They also illustrate the high degree of food web connectivity mediated by mobile fish in this system in the absence of human modification, and point to the potential consequences of water resource development that may reduce or eliminate hydrological connectivity between the river and its floodplain.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Richard Hunt, Dominic Váldez, Stephen Faggotter, Courtenay Mills, Kate Masci, Alisha Steward, Colton Perna, Michael Pusey, Raven Greenwool, Anzac Frank, Taron David and Michael Gater for assistance with sample collection, Jeff Shellberg and Doug Ward for hydrology data, and Rene Diocares, Vanessa Fry and Laura Jardine for help with sample processing and isotope analysis. This work was conducted under the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) Research Hub. TRaCK received major funding for its research through the Australian Government’s Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities initiative; the Australian Government’s Raising National Water Standards Program; Land and Water Australia; the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, and the Queensland Government’s Smart State Innovation Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

    Timothy D. Jardine, Bradley J. Pusey & Stuart E. Bunn

  2. Kellogg Biological Station and Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI, USA

    Stephen K. Hamilton

  3. Cente of Excellence in Natural Resource Management, University of Western Australia, Albany, WA, Australia

    Neil E. Pettit & Peter M. Davies

  4. Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia

    Michael M. Douglas

  5. Kowanyama Aboriginal Land and Natural Resource Management Office, Kowanyama, QLD, Australia

    Vivian Sinnamon

  6. Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Ian A. Halliday

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  1. Timothy D. Jardine
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  2. Bradley J. Pusey
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Correspondence to Timothy D. Jardine.

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Communicated by Leon Barmuta.

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Jardine, T.D., Pusey, B.J., Hamilton, S.K. et al. Fish mediate high food web connectivity in the lower reaches of a tropical floodplain river. Oecologia 168, 829–838 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2148-0

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