简介:ThespatialandtemporalcharacteristicsoftrophicstructureoffishcommunitiesinthesouthernHuanghaiSeawereexaminedbasedonthedatasampledfrombottomtrawlsurveysconductedduringtheautumnof2000andthespringof2001.HierarchicalagglomerativeclustermethodandbootstraprandomizationwereusedtoidentifysignificanttrophicgroupsforeachfishassemblageinthesouthernHuanghaiSea.Atotalofsixmajortrophicgroupswereidentifiedwithinthissystem,whichclassifiedpredatorsbaseduponlocationinthewatercolumnorpreysize(i.e.,benthictopelagicpredatorsorfishtosmallinvertebratepreypredators).Thesimilaritylevelusedtoidentifysignificanttrophicgroupsineachassemblagerangedfrom24%to34%.Althoughplanktivoreswerethedominanttrophicgroupineachassemblage(60%~79%),therewerespatialandtemporalvariationsinthetrophicstructure,whichreflectedthedifferencesintheabundanceandavailabilityofdominantpreys.Simplifiedfoodwebswereconstructedtoevaluatethemostimportanttrophicrelationshipsbetweenthedominantpreytaxaandthefishesineachassemblagewithinthissystem.Althoughthereweresomedifferencesinthekeypreyspeciesamongdifferentfoodwebs,pelagicpreyitems(mainlyeuphausiidsandcopepods)representthemostimportantenergeticlinkbetweenprimaryproducersandhighertrophiclevelpredators.Thetrophiclevelformostfisheswasbetween3and4,andtheweightedmeantrophiclevelforeachassemblagerangedfrom3.3to3.4.Comparedwithpreviousstudyinthemid-1980s,therewasanobviousdownwardtrendinthetrophiclevelformostfishspecies,whichresultedmainlyfromthefluctuationinkeypreyspeciesintheHuanghaiSea.ThedecreaseintheimportanceofJapaneseanchovyseemstobeoffsetbyotherabundantpreyspeciessuchasEuphausiapacificaandcopepods(mainlyCalanussinicus).
简介:Asapexpredators,sharksareofecologicalandconservationimportanceinmarineecosystems.Inthisstudy,trophicpositionsofsharkswereestimatedusingstableisotoperatiosofcarbonandnitrogenforfiverepresentativespeciescaughtbytheChineselonglinefleetinthemid-eastPacific,i.e.,theblueshark(Prionaceglauca),thebigeyethreshershark(Alopiassuperciliosus),thesilkyshark(Carcharhinusfalciformis),thescallopedhammerhead(Sphyrnalewini),andtheoceanicwhitetipshark(Carcharhinuslongimanus).Ofthesespecies,oceanicwhitetipsharkhasthelowesttrophiclevelandmeanδ15Nvalue(3.9and14.93‰±0.84‰),whereasbigeyethreshersharkhasthehighestlevel/values(4.5and17.02‰±1.21‰,respectively).Thebigeyethreshersharkhassignificantlyhigherδ15Nvaluethanothersharkspecies,indicatingitshighertrophicposition.Thebluesharkandoceanicwhitetipsharkhassignificantlyhigherδ13Cvaluesthanbigeyethreshershark,silkysharkandscallopedhammerhead,possiblyduetodifferentdietsand/orlivinghabitats.Thestableisotopedataandstomachcontentdataarehighlyconsistent,suggestingthatstableisotopeanalysissupplementstraditionalfeedingecologystudyofsharks,andthuscontributestounderstandingtheirtrophiclinkage.