ZOO 511 Ecology of Fishes Lab
2008
Maggie Lalor
Tuesday Lab, Assignment #1
Due 2/12/2008
Smith, K. M. and King D. K. 2005. Movement and Habitat Use of Yearling and Juvenile Lake Sturgeon in Black Lake,
Michigan. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 134:1159-1172.
Smith & King, Movement and Habitat Use of Yearling and Juvenile Lake Sturgeon in Black Lake, MI.
Abiotic S
1) This paper looked at what type of habitat selection occurred for yearling versus juvenile Lake Sturgeon in a
confined system where dams had isolated the population.
2) This study found that yearling and juvenile lake sturgeon had individual areas of activity for their habitat
selection, rather than distinct areas of use for groups of adults and groups of juveniles as other studies had found.
They believe this was due to intraspecies diversity resulting in a population with diverse life stages for similar
ages causing habitat requirements and movement patterns to vary among individuals rather than age categories.
Other studies had found distinct differences in habitat for age groups with yearlings using near onshore and deep
offshore habitats and juveniles utilizing flat-bottomed offshore habitat.
3) Figures were present and helpful in illustrating the points of this paper. For example Figure 4 helped illustrate the
amount of overlap between yearling and juvenile locations throughout the lake with a contour map showing
locations of yearlings and juveniles.
Peterson, D. L., Vecsei, P., and Jennings C. A. 2007. Ecology and biology of the lake sturgeon: a synthesis of current
knowledge of a threatened North American Acipenseridae. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 17:59-76.
Biotic S
1) This paper discussed the influence of human behavior on lake sturgeon populations as well as evolution and
ecological factors influencing lake sturgeon.
2) This paper discussed the impact humans have had on lake sturgeon populations, namely the dramatic decline
caused by overfishing due to demand for caviar and sturgeon meat, as well as habitat degradation.
3) Images in this paper were primarily images of the fish used to help illustrate the morphology or ontogenetic
changes and were utilized when it came to human impact.
Arkhipin, A., Brickle, P., and Laptikhovsky, V. 2003. Variation in the diet of the Patagonian toothfish with size, depth and
season around the Falkland Islands. Journal of Fish Biology 63:428-441.
Abiotic P
1) This article looked at the influence of season, depth and fish age on feeding behavior and selection.
2) It found young fish were active predators seeking out relatively large prey on the shelf with medium-sized fish
seeking the same prey but in larger quantities at a time with prey species varying seasonally depending on
abundance and migration patters of prey, while large fish located themselves near the bottom and selected less
active fishes as prey and behaving more like an opportunistic predator feeding mostly on small inactive fishes,
squids and crustaceans. This decrease in hunting activity was to be possibly related to an adaptation to use
increased lipid content to keep neutral buoyancy in white muscles.
3) Figures were included which helped visualize both the location and depths being sampled, as well as tables which
were not as helpful in illustrating the variation in diet due to their large and cumbersome design and the amount of
data included although they did help illustrate the idea of shifting diets at different fish sizes and depths.
Goldsworthy, S. D., He, X., Tuck, G. N., Lewis, M., and Williams, R. 2001. Trophic interactions between the Patagonian
toothfish, its fishery, and seals and seabirds around Macquarie Island. Marine Ecology Progress Series 218:283-302.
Biotic P
1) This paper looked at the diet of the toothfish and several other predators to determine if overlap in prey occurred.
2) The paper found that there was very little overlap between the Patagonian toothfish and other species, and in fact
warranted the toothfish in Macquarie being classified in a separate trophic guild, and in fact the nearby toothfish
fishery was placed in a separate trophic guild from the toothfish around Macquarie Island due to the lack of
overlap in prey, implying a lack of impact on toothfish prey by birds, seals, as well as other toothfish stocks.
3) There were several figures in the paper which were helpful in illustrating the differences in diets. For example
Figure 2 had a matrix which illustrated the bifurcations in diet, and the dashed line where different trophic guilds
were assigned provided a helpful visualization of what level of differentiation was found to be relevant.