Trade-offs associated with dietary specialization in corallivorous butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae: Chaetodon )
Date
2007-10-25Metadata
Show full item recordCitable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/2168As published
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0526-8Keyword
Feeding selectivity; Resource selection; Growth rates; Coral reef fishes; Ecological versatilityAbstract
Increasing dietary specialisation is an inherently risky strategy because it increases a species’ vulnerability to resource depletion. However, risks associated with dietary specialisation may be offset by increased performance when feeding on preferred prey. Though rarely demonstrated, highly specialised species are expected to outperform generalists when feeding on their preferred prey, whereas generalists are predicted to have more similar performance across a range of different prey. To test this theory, we compared growth rates of two obligate coral-feeding butterflyfishes (Chaetodon trifascialis and C. plebeius) maintained on exclusive diets of preferred versus non-preferred prey. In the field, C. trifascialis was the most specialised species, feeding almost exclusively on just one coral species, Acropora hyacinthus. Chaetodon plebeius meanwhile, was much less specialised, but fed predominantly on
Pocillopora damicornis. During growth experiments, C. trifascialis grew fastest when feeding
on A. hyacinthus and did not grow at all when feeding on less preferred prey (P. damicornis
and Porites cylindrica). Chaetodon plebeius performed equally well on both A. hyacinthus and
P. damicornis (its preferred prey), but performed poorly when feeding on P. cylindrica. Both
butterflyfishes select coral species that maximise juvenile growth, but contrary to expectations,
the more specialised species (C. trifascialis) did not outperform the generalist (C. plebeius)
when both consumed their preferred prey. Increased dietary specialisation, therefore, appears
to be a questionable strategy as there was no evidence of any increased benefits to offset
increases in susceptibility to disturbance.
Description
Author Posting. © Springer, 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 62 (2008) 989-994, doi:10.1007/s00265-007-0526-8.
Collections
Suggested Citation
Preprint: Berumen, Michael L., Pratchett, Morgan S., "Trade-offs associated with dietary specialization in corallivorous butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae: Chaetodon )", 2007-10-25, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0526-8, https://hdl.handle.net/1912/2168Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Convergent evolution of sodium ion selectivity in metazoan neuronal signaling
Barzilai, Maya Gur; Reitzel, Adam M.; Kraus, Johanna E. M.; Gordon, Dalia; Technau, Ulrich; Gurevitz, Michael; Moran, Yehu (Cell Press, 2012-08-30)Ion selectivity of metazoan voltage-gated Na+ channels is critical for neuronal signaling and has long been attributed to a ring of four conserved amino acids that constitute the ion selectivity filter (SF) at the channel ... -
Harmful algal blooms and eutrophication : examining linkages from selected coastal regions of the United States
Anderson, Donald M.; Burkholder, JoAnn M.; Cochlan, William P.; Glibert, Patricia M.; Gobler, Christopher J.; Heil, Cynthia A.; Kudela, Raphael M.; Parsons, Michael L.; Rensel, J. E. Jack; Townsend, David W.; Trainer, Vera L.; Vargo, Gabriel A. (2008-07-28)Coastal waters of the United States (U.S.) are subject to many of the major harmful algal bloom (HAB) poisoning syndromes and impacts. These include paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), neurotoxic shellfish poisoning ... -
Managing information: evaluating and selecting citation management software, a look at EndNote, RefWorks, Mendeley and Zotero
Butros, Amy; Taylor, Sally (IAMSLIC, 2011)