Effects of substrate and elevated temperature on the growth and feeding efficiency of an invasive cyprinid fish, Tench (Tinca tinca)
2022
Avlijaš, Sunčica | Mandrak, Nicholas E. | Ricciardi, Anthony
Research has linked ecologically-damaging invasive animals to a suite of traits including rapid rates of growth and exploitation of food resources, but such traits can vary substantively across habitats. In this study, the growth rate and functional response of tench (Tinca tinca), a benthivorous Eurasian fish invading the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River basin, were measured when exposed to treatment combinations of two physical habitat variables: substrate (rocks versus sand) and temperature (18 vs 26 °C, the latter being within the range of maximum mean summer nearshore temperatures projected for the lower Great Lakes under climate warming). In spite of their reported preference for fine-sediment habitat, tench did not exhibit impaired rates of consumption, or growth, on rocks compared to sand. Although tench require vegetated fine-sediment habitat for spawning, their efficient foraging on coarse substrate suggests that behavioural plasticity contributes to their ability to rapidly colonize large heterogeneous waterbodies. Furthermore, tench functional response shifted from a stabilizing Type III to a de-stabilizing Type II as temperature increased from 18 to 26 °C. Climate warming could thus erode the ability of prey to exploit refugia against tench predation, possibly resulting in significant local declines in prey populations and enhanced competition for food resources with native benthivorous fishes. Our results provide insight into the influence of physical habitat conditions on the foraging efficiency of this global aquatic invader. Experimental comparisons of invader performance under different environmental contexts offer a valuable tool for informing risk assessment.
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