Abstract
The seasonal energy dynamics of temperate fishes will likely be affected by climate change, especially during the winter. Few studies, however, have focused on winter. Fishes are more active in winter than previously thought, thus, an inquiry into the energetic contributions of winter foraging to the annual growth of fishes is needed given expected changes in winter conditions. We used stomach content data, total lipid analyses, and bioenergetics modeling to assess the effects of winter foraging on three species in Lake Champlain, Vermont, USA. We compared species in two thermal guilds, the cool-water species yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and two warm-water species, pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). Our results indicate that winter energy dynamics likely depend on the thermal preference of individual fish species – the cool-water species foraged in all seasons whereas the two warm-water species foraged only in the open-water seasons. In addition, winter foraging provided sufficient energy for overwinter growth in cool-water species but not in warm-water species. Climate change will affect the seasonal energy dynamics that these species have evolved to survive winter conditions in temperate lakes. Thus, we expect climate change to affect individual survival and reproductive success.
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Amanda Hass and Alisha Secor for their help with field and laboratory work. I would also like to thank Jacob Crawford, Matt Futia, Allison Hrycik, Dan Delucia, and Undraa Irvin for their assistance. We also thank two anonymous reviewers who greatly improved our manuscript prior to publication. We acknowledge the use of temperature data from Vermont Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research’s (VT EPSCoR) Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE) award (NSF Award# OIA-1556770). This work was made possible with funds made available to Lake Champlain research by Senator Patrick Leahy through the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission, and the Explorer’s Club.
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Block, B.D., Stockwell, J.D. & Marsden, J.E. Contributions of winter foraging to the annual growth of thermally dissimilar fish species. Hydrobiologia 847, 4325–4341 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04428-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04428-2