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Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Electronic books Languages : en Pages : 31
Book Description
Structural complexity plays an important role in mediating predator-prey interactions. Structural elements can limit predator mobility and reduce predator efficiency, increasing prey survival. Seagrasses are marine plants that provide refuge for many fishes and invertebrates by adding structural complexity to the seafloor. Though many studies have found positive correlations between prey survival and seagrass biomass or shoot density, seagrass is frequently colonized by epibiotic organisms, including algae and colonial invertebrates like bryozoans. Epibionts may fundamentally alter the structural complexity in seagrass habitat, but their effects on predator-prey interactions rarely have been investigated. The goal of this study was to determine whether epibionts of eelgrass (Zostera marina) alter predator-prey interactions by mediating predator and prey behaviors and prey survival probability. In San Diego Bay, Thalamoporella californica is a common rigid branching bryozoan that creates a unique 3-dimensional structure. I conducted (i) a laboratory experiment to determine whether predator (juvenile giant kelpfish Heterostichus rostratus) foraging behaviors and prey (grass shrimp Hippolyte californiensis) escape behavior in eelgrass are altered by colonization by T. californica, (ii) a field experiment to determine whether prey survival is correlated with the degree of bryozoan encrustation of eelgrass habitat, and (iii) a habitat selection experiment to determine if the presence of epibionts deter fish from foraging in eelgrass habitat. I found that increasing eelgrass structural complexity altered kelpfish foraging behaviors, reducing their foraging efficiency but the presence of bryozoans did not. In contrast, intermediate levels of structural complexity optimized the ability of shrimp to evade oncoming predators. Despite clear effects of structural complexity on fish foraging in the lab experiment, my field experiment in San Diego Bay eelgrass suggested that eelgrass habitat structure did not influence prey survival. Finally, I found that kelpfish strongly avoided foraging in bryozoan-encrusted eelgrass compared to uncolonized eelgrass. Overall, bryozoan structure influenced prey behavior in the lab but did not affect prey survival or prey density in the field, indicating that bryozoan structure in the field does not increased prey refuge. Understanding how fish interact with their habitat is crucial when determining how to effectively conserve and restore critical habitats like eelgrass beds.
Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Electronic books Languages : en Pages : 31
Book Description
Structural complexity plays an important role in mediating predator-prey interactions. Structural elements can limit predator mobility and reduce predator efficiency, increasing prey survival. Seagrasses are marine plants that provide refuge for many fishes and invertebrates by adding structural complexity to the seafloor. Though many studies have found positive correlations between prey survival and seagrass biomass or shoot density, seagrass is frequently colonized by epibiotic organisms, including algae and colonial invertebrates like bryozoans. Epibionts may fundamentally alter the structural complexity in seagrass habitat, but their effects on predator-prey interactions rarely have been investigated. The goal of this study was to determine whether epibionts of eelgrass (Zostera marina) alter predator-prey interactions by mediating predator and prey behaviors and prey survival probability. In San Diego Bay, Thalamoporella californica is a common rigid branching bryozoan that creates a unique 3-dimensional structure. I conducted (i) a laboratory experiment to determine whether predator (juvenile giant kelpfish Heterostichus rostratus) foraging behaviors and prey (grass shrimp Hippolyte californiensis) escape behavior in eelgrass are altered by colonization by T. californica, (ii) a field experiment to determine whether prey survival is correlated with the degree of bryozoan encrustation of eelgrass habitat, and (iii) a habitat selection experiment to determine if the presence of epibionts deter fish from foraging in eelgrass habitat. I found that increasing eelgrass structural complexity altered kelpfish foraging behaviors, reducing their foraging efficiency but the presence of bryozoans did not. In contrast, intermediate levels of structural complexity optimized the ability of shrimp to evade oncoming predators. Despite clear effects of structural complexity on fish foraging in the lab experiment, my field experiment in San Diego Bay eelgrass suggested that eelgrass habitat structure did not influence prey survival. Finally, I found that kelpfish strongly avoided foraging in bryozoan-encrusted eelgrass compared to uncolonized eelgrass. Overall, bryozoan structure influenced prey behavior in the lab but did not affect prey survival or prey density in the field, indicating that bryozoan structure in the field does not increased prey refuge. Understanding how fish interact with their habitat is crucial when determining how to effectively conserve and restore critical habitats like eelgrass beds.
Author: S.S. Bell Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 9401130760 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 451
Book Description
We conceived the idea for this book after teaching a graduate seminar on 'Habitat Complexity' at The University of South Florida. Discussions during the seminar led us to conclude that similar goals were to be found in studies of the topic that spanned the breadth of ecological research. Yet, the exact meaning of 'habitat structure', and the way in which it was measured, seemed to differ widely among subdisciplines. Our own research, which involves several sorts of ecology, convinced us that the differences among subdisciplines were indeed real ones, and that they did inhibit communica tion. We decided that interchange of ideas among researchers working in marine ecology, plant-animal interactions, physiological ecology, and other more-or-less independent fields would be worthwhile, in that it might lead to useful generalizations about 'habitat structure'. To foster this interchange of ideas. we organized a symposium to attract researchers working with a wide variety of organisms living in many habitats, but united in their interest in the topic of 'habitat structure'. The symposium was held at The University of South Florida's Chinsegut Hill Conference Center, in May. 1988. We asked participants to think about 'habitat structure' in new ways; to synthesize important, but fragmented, information; and. perhaps. to consider ways of translating ideas across systems. The chapters contained in this book reflect the participants' attempts to do so. The book is divided into four parts, by major themes that we have found useful categorizations.
Author: Erik Jeppesen Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 1461206952 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 442
Book Description
The rapid growth of the discipline of aquatic ecology has been driven both by scientific interest in the complexities of aquatic ecosystems and by their enormous environmental importance and sensitivity. This book focuses on the remarkably diverse roles played by underwater plants, and is divided into three parts: 10 thematic chapters, followed by 18 case studies, and rounded off by three integrative chapters. The topics range from macrophytes as fish food to macrophytes as mollusc and microbe habitat, making this of interest to aquatic ecologists as well as limnologists, ecosystem ecologists, microbial ecologists, fish biologists, and environmental managers.
Author: Andrew Scott Hoey Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 9781482224016 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Parrotfishes (subfamily Scarinae, family Labridae), named for their brightly colored bodies and beaklike jaw, are a unique group of marine fishes that have captured the attention of researchers, conservationists and the general public worldwide. This book brings together the world's leading authorities on the evolution, biology, ecology, fisheries and conservation of parrotfishes. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive summary of the research conducted on this unique group of fishes and highlights emerging topics and future direction.
Author: Luigi Boitani Publisher: Columbia University Press ISBN: 0231501390 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 668
Book Description
The present biodiversity crisis is rife with opportunities to make important conservation decisions; however, the misuse or misapplication of the methods and techniques of animal ecology can have serious consequences for the survival of species. Still, there have been relatively few critical reviews of methodology in the field. This book provides an analysis of some of the most frequently used research techniques in animal ecology, identifying their limitations and misuses, as well as possible solutions to avoid such pitfalls. In the process, contributors to this volume present new perspectives on the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. Research Techniques in Animal Ecology is an overarching account of central theoretical and methodological controversies in the field, rather than a handbook on the minutiae of techniques. The editors have forged comprehensive presentations of key topics in animal ecology, such as territory and home range estimates, habitation evaluation, population viability analysis, GIS mapping, and measuring the dynamics of societies. Striking a careful balance, each chapter begins by assessing the shortcomings and misapplications of the techniques in question, followed by a thorough review of the current literature, and concluding with possible solutions and suggested guidelines for more robust investigations.
Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Electronic books Languages : en Pages : 52
Book Description
Seagrasses form important coastal habitats that promote the foraging and survival of mesopredators. Variation in seagrass habitat structure at local and seascape scales mediates foraging success and survival, but the interactive effects of structure at these scales rarely is quantified when evaluating nursery habitat function. For my thesis, I tested how the interactions of multiscale habitat structural variation on juvenile fish body size mediates the value of seagrass habitat through survival and foraging success. In Chapter 1, I tested the hypothesis that in eelgrass (Zostera marina) optimal structural complexity (SC) for juvenile giant kelpfish (Heterostichus rostratus) changes through ontogeny. I found that habitat selection differed with kelpfish size: small and large fish selected high and low SC respectively. Smaller kelpfish experienced lower predation risk and higher foraging in high SC, suggesting high SC is selected by these fish because it minimizes risk and maximizes growth potential. Larger kelpfish experienced lower predation risk and higher foraging in high and low SC respectively, suggesting they select low SC to maximize foraging efficiency. My study highlights that trade-offs between predation risk and foraging can occur within a single habitat type, that studies should consider how habitat value changes through ontogeny, and that seagrass nursery habitat value may be maximal when within-patch variability in SC is high. In Chapter 2, I used a spatially explicit individual-based model to examine how seagrass fragmentation influences foraging and survival of a mesopredator, and how these relationships are influenced by SC, body size, and mesopredator and prey densities. I found that mesopredator survival and foraging dropped beyond threshold levels of habitat area (60 and 30% respectively) and depended on level of SC in the seascape. The relationship between habitat area and foraging did not depend on SC or body size, but did depend on organismal densities: when mesopredators and prey densities increased with decreasing habitat area, foraging was highest in highly fragmented seascapes. My results suggest that small- and large-scale habitat structure jointly dictate the value of a nursery habitat, and the effects of survival and foraging should consider interactions with habitat structure at multiple scales.
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Author: 
Author: S.S. Bell
Author: David Lawrence Johnson
Author: Clair B. Stalnaker
Author: Erik Jeppesen
Author: Andrew Scott Hoey
Author: Luigi Boitani
Author: Leandro Miranda
Author: 
Author: David Lawrence Johnson