Lyngbya majuscula blooms and the diet of small subtropical benthivorous fishes

Ben Gilby; Dana D Burfeind; Ian R Tibbetts

doi:10.1007/s00227-010-1555-9

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Lyngbya majuscula blooms and the diet of small subtropical benthivorous fishes

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Lyngbya majuscula blooms and the diet of small subtropical benthivorous fishes

Ben Gilby, Dana D Burfeind and Ian R Tibbetts

Marine Biology, Vol.158(2), pp.245-255

2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-010-1555-9

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Abstract

Biological Sciences

Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences

Environmental Sciences

algal blooms

Moreton Bay

Increasing concerns about the ecological impacts of ongoing and possibly worsening blooms of the toxic, carcinogenic cyanobacteria Lyngbya majuscula in Moreton Bay, Australia, led us to assess differences in meiofaunal prey assemblages between bloom and non-bloom substrates and the potential dietary impacts of dense L. majuscula blooms on the omnivorous benthivore, the Eastern Long-finned Goby, Favonigobius lentiginosus and the obligate meiobenthivorous juveniles of Trumpeter Whiting, Sillago maculata. Marked differences in invertebrate communities were found between sandy and L. majuscula bloom foraging substrates, with copepods significantly more abundant (18.49% vs. 70.44% numerical abundance) and nematodes significantly less abundant (55.91% vs. 1.21% numerical abundance) within bloom material. Gut analyses showed that bentho-planktivorous fishes exposed to L. majuscula in captivity had consumed a significantly greater quantity of prey by both total number (P <; 0.0019) and volume (P < 0.0006) than fish exposed to sand treatments. Thus, it is likely for such fishes that L. majuscula blooms increase rates of prey encounter and consumption, with consequent changes in trophic relationships through shifts in predator-prey interactions between small benthivorous fishes and their meiofaunal prey.

Details

Title: Lyngbya majuscula blooms and the diet of small subtropical benthivorous fishes
Authors: Ben Gilby (Author) - University of Queensland
Dana D Burfeind (Author) - University of Queensland
Ian R Tibbetts (Author) - University of Queensland
Publication details: Marine Biology, Vol.158(2), pp.245-255
Publisher: Springer
Date published: 2011
DOI: 10.1007/s00227-010-1555-9
ISSN: 0025-3162
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99449473002621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Marine & Freshwater Biology

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