Abstract
The potential use of Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios in fish otolith, as a complement to 87Sr/86Sr to study movements of Prochilodus lineatus, was evaluated in the La Plata Basin (South America). Water ratios were obtained from samples collected during the high and low water seasons at 42 sites across the La Plata Basin. Elemental and isotopic ratios in water were measured by MC-ICP-MS, ICP-MS and ion chromatography, and obtained from available literature. Fish were caught from six different sites with different physiochemical features. Otolith core-to-edge Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca profiles were determined by LA-ICP-MS, while the otolith 87Sr/86Sr data set was taken from literature. The predictive classification by rivers according to water Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca and 87Sr/86Sr ratios (92.5%) was higher than that based solely on 87Sr/86Sr (58%), with classification that reached 100% for several rivers. Unlike Ba/Ca, a significant relationship (R2 = 0.94, p < 0.05) was found between otolith edge and water Sr/Ca, suggesting that this could be an efficient movement indicator for P. lineatus. The Sr/Ca ratio complemented the information provided by Sr isotopes and it was particularly useful in the northwest basin, where the isotopes alone do not allow differentiating between large rivers.
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Data availability
All data are available in the manuscript and supplementary material. The data and material analyzed is also available at https://inpa-uba.conicet.gov.ar/
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20 April 2023
Supplementary 2-4 were missing from this article and have now been uploaded.
09 May 2023
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-023-01419-9
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Authors thank to Concejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (PIP112-20120100543CO), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBACYT 20020150100052BA), Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Técnica (PICT 2015–1823), Administrative Commission of the River Uruguay (2011–2014), Entidad Binacional Yacyretá (2010–2014), Government of the Principality of Asturias (FC-15-GRUPIN14–040) and IPGP multidisciplinary program PARI and by the Region Île-de-France SESAME (grant12015908) for financial and logistic support. Caroline Gorge is thanked in particular for her analytical support. The authors thank the three reviewers who made constructive criticisms contributing to improve the manuscript.
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The authors declare not to have any interest conflicts. Prochilodus lineatus is not protected under wildlife conservation laws (local legislations, IUCN, or CITES). As the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas (CONICET) does not possess a formal animal research ethics committee regarding the fish welfare and sampling protocols, fish handling during sampling was performed following guidelines of the ethical committee of the UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory Animals (http://www.ufaw.org.uk). Collection fish was authorized by the local Wildlife and Fisheries Authority guidelines and policies (Ministerio de Ecología y Recursos Renovables of Misiones Province, Law XVI N° 47, N° 509/07 and 052/18, Dirección de Recursos Naturales of Corrientes Province, Law 1863/54, and Comisión Administradora del Río Uruguay, RS27/04). The fish in this study were not a part of faunal surveys and they did not employ any type of experimental procedure, surgery or chemical agents that would induce injury on the collected organisms.
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Prochilodus lineatus is not protected under wildlife conservation laws (local legislations, IUCN, or CITES). As the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas (CONICET) does not possess a formal animal research ethics committee regarding the fish welfare and sampling protocols, fish handling during sampling was performed following guidelines of the ethical committee of the UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory Animals (http://www.ufaw.org.uk). Collection fish was authorized by the local Wildlife and Fisheries Authority guidelines and policies (Ministerio de Ecología y Recursos Renovables of Misiones Province, Law XVI N° 47, N° 509/07 and 052/18, Dirección de Recursos Naturales of Corrientes Province, Law 1863/54, and Comisión Administradora del Río Uruguay, RS27/04). The fish in this study were not a part of faunal surveys and they did not employ any type of experimental procedure, surgery or chemical agents that would induce injury on the collected organisms.
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ESM 1
Water sampling locations (name, coordinates, and environment), and results for Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios (mean±SD). W, west; S, South (numbers of the sampling sites correspond to Fig. 1). Water 87Sr/86Sr values were taken from Avigliano et al. (2020) (XLSX 19.8 KB).
ESM 2
Prochilodus lineatus individual list indicating sampling location, date and standard length (SL). The numbers in brackets indicate the fish collection site numbers (Fig. 1) (DOCX 73.7 KB).
ESM 3
Sr/Ca relationships between otolith edge and water. Bars indicate the standard deviation. (TIF 1.22 MB).
ESM 4
Profiles of Prochilodus lineatus otolith Sr/Ca (this paper) and 87Sr/86Sr ratios. The shaded areas correspond to range in water 87Sr/86Sr as a function of the potential migratory corridor (for fish coming from reservoirs, only reference values from upstream are shown) according to Avigliano et al. (2020). according to Avigliano et al. (2020). The arrows indicate the position of the first annulus. Par-Pi-Be: Paraguay-Pilcomayo-Bermejo system. In panel h and j, only the areas located upstream of the reservoir where fish could access are shown shaded (TIF 6.09 MB).
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Avigliano, E., Pisonero, J., Bouchez, J. et al. Otolith Sr/Ca ratio complements Sr isotopes to reveal fish migration in large basins with heterogeneous geochemical landscapes. Environ Biol Fish 104, 277–292 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01074-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01074-y