Feeding Habits of Trisopterus minutus capelanus (Gadidae) Off the Eastern Coast of Spain (Western Mediterranean)

Abstract. The stomach contents of poor cod, Trisopterus minutus capelanus (Lacepède), were taken at monthly intervals off the eastern coast of the Gulf of Valencia (Spain). A total of 1276 were analyzed to determine diet according to fish size and season. The basic food consists of crustaceans (Mysidacea and Decapoda) and teleosts. Feeding habits varied with size: decapods and fishes were more abundant in the stomachs of larger specimens. Little seasonal variation in food habits was recorded.     

In situ determination on food consumption and ecological conversion efficiency of a marine fish species, Hyporhamphus sajori

The food consumption and ecological conversion efficiency of a species marine pelagic andsmall size fish, Hyporhamphus sajori, were determined by using in situ stomach content method presented by Eggers. The results showed that: (1) the fish was taken in food all day, so empty-stomach rate was very low, taking up about 4.5% of the total determined fish number. However, the fish still has significant daily feeding rhythm. A feeding peak was found 0:00 o'clock at night, but feeding level was always high in the daytime; (2) relationship between instantaneous food content in stomach and corresponding time could be described as S_t = a ·e ~(-b ·t). There was not significant difference of instantaneous gastric evacuation rate between two determinations, with average value being 0.13 × 10~(-2)g/ (g·d) (wet weight); (3) the daily food consumption tended to change in irregular waving form, with average value being (10.16×l0~(-2)±1.19×l0~(-2) g/ (g·d) (wet weight) or (55.56 × 10~(-2) ±6.51 × 10~(-2) kJ/     

Benthic photosynthesis in submerged Wadden Sea intertidal flats

In this study we compare benthic photosynthesis during inundation in coarse sand, fine sand, and mixed sediment (sand/mud) intertidal flats in the German Wadden Sea. In situ determinations of oxygen-, DIC- and nutrient fluxes in stirred benthic chamber incubations were combined with measurements of sedimentary chlorophyll, incident light intensity at the sediment surface and scalar irradiance within the sediment. During submergence, microphytobenthos was light limited at all study sites as indicated by rapid response of gross photosynthesis to increasing incident light at the sea floor. However, depth integrated scalar irradiance was 2 to 3 times higher in the sands than in the mud. Consequently, gross photosynthesis in the net autotrophic fine sand and coarse sand flats during inundation was on average 4 and 11 times higher than in the net heterotrophic mud flat, despite higher total chlorophyll concentration in mud. Benthic photosynthesis may be enhanced in intertidal sands during inundation due to: (1) higher light availability to the microphytobenthos in the sands compared to muds, (2) more efficient transport of photosynthesis-limiting solutes to the microalgae with pore water flows in the permeable sands, and (3) more active metabolic state and different life strategies of microphytobenthos inhabiting sands.     

一个简单食物链的能流实验

食物链能量转换是生态系统的主要功能之一。海洋生物生产就是海洋食物链能量流动的一种表现形式。它把来自以藻类为主的植物性生产，通过被食－取食多级转换，形成了贝、虾、鱼等各级动物性生产，这就为人类提供了丰富的渔业资源。海岸带水域是我国目前海洋开发的主攻目标，揭示这个海区中食物链能流转移过程，对其经济生物生产力估算和开发前景预测有着重要意义。测定自然条件下海洋食物链能流是极其困难的。借助实验结果进而推算，就比较方便。本研究选择我国海岸带水域中属于不同营养级的４个经济种，构成一个简单的人工食物链，即金藻（…     

Inverse reconstructions of ecosystem flows in investigating regime shifts: impact of the choice of objective function

Inverse analysis is increasingly used in ecosystem modelling to objectively reconstruct a large number of unknown flows or interactions from a small number of observations. This type of analysis may be useful in relating observed regime shifts in ecosystem structure to underlying processes. Inversions of ecosystem flow networks currently use a constrained least-squares solution which at the same time minimizes the squared norm (the sum of squares) of the reconstructed flows. This minimum norm (MN) inversion is thought to be a parsimonious solution to the ecosystem flow inverse problem, but it may well not reflect how ecosystems are organised. It has been proposed instead that ecosystems evolve to maximize energy/mass flows or that they maximize the information content of the network weighted by ecosystem flows (ascendancy). We used simulated inverse experiments, where inverse analyses are applied to simulations of flow networks, to explore objective functions different than the MN generally used. We could not compute inverse solutions that maximize ascendancy because the objective function is unbounded. We could calculate inversions that maximize flows; however, these generally overestimated the simulated flows, even though the simulations were designed to maximize flows. It appears that the ecosystem flow inverse problem is too under-determined (too few data relative to the number of unknowns) to allow the use of these maximizing goal functions. We introduce a new minimization that simultaneously minimizes the squared flows and the squared differences between flows. This smoothing minimization makes the inverse flows as even as possible and it helps with some technical issues with MN inversions. The simulated inverse experiments indicated that this smoothed norm (SM) is the most robust in comparative analyses of contrasting ecosystem states, such as those that can be associated with regime shifts. Like the MN inversion, the SM inversion has no ecological basis. However, it is a conservative norm that is less likely to produce false differences between the dynamics of regimes.     

Diet of Phycis blennoides (Gadidae) in Relation to Fish Size and Season in the Western Mediterranean (Spain)

Abstract. Despite its commercial value, little is known about the feeding ecology of the greater forkbeard, Phycis blennoides (Brünnich 1768). The stomach contents of 2631 greater forkbeard were taken at monthly intervals off the coast of the Gulf of Valencia (western Mediterranean). They were examined in order to assess the diet and to determine the fish size- and season-related dietary variation of the species. Prey items were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible. The basic food consisted of epibenthic species, mostly Decapoda, Mysidacea and Teleostei. A change in food composition based on fish size was observed and seasonal variation in diet was also recorded. The food overlap analysis indicated a high convergence in diet among similar size groups.     

Retailing local food in the Scottish-English borders: A supply chain perspective

Local food is championed as one alternative response to industrial systems of food production and supply. While advocacy for local food is high, there is a lack of empirical evidence about the actual shape and scale of such food supply chains, especially from a retail perspective. Using supply chain diagrams, this paper presents a summary of ‘new’ agro-food geographies for five different retail types—farm shops, butchers, caterers, specialist shops, supermarkets/department stores—that all source local food from suppliers in the Scottish-English borders. Presented as five separate ‘shopping trips’, the paper examines where, how and why retailers source local food. Results reveal the complex nature of local food systems, especially in terms of intra-sector competitive dynamics (with a notable tension between direct forms of retail and established (independent) retailers), links and overlaps with ‘normal’ food retail systems and elastic notions of the ‘local’. The paper also draws a key distinction between locally produced and locally supplied food products.     

A heuristic model for potential geomorphic influences on trophic interactions in streams

Whereas certain linkages between stream channel morphology and stream ecology are fairly well-understood, how geomorphology influences trophic interactions remains largely unknown. As a first step, a simple, heuristic model is developed that couples reach-scale geomorphic morphology with trophic dynamics between vegetation, detritus, herbivores, and predators. Predation is assumed to increase with depth beyond a threshold depth, and herbivory is assumed to decrease with velocity beyond a threshold velocity. Results show that the modeled food chain is sensitive to channel geometry, particularly around the threshold conditions for predators and herbivores. Importantly, geomorphic influences are not isolated to a particular trophic level, but rather are transferred through the food chain via top-down and bottom-up effects. The modeled system is particularly sensitive to changes in the end-members of the food chain: vegetation and predators. Results illustrate that geomorphic disturbances, known to affect a single trophic level (e.g., fish), likely impact multiple trophic levels in the stream ecosystem via trophic interactions. Such impacts at the multiple trophic level are poorly understood. While limited by the lack of empirical long-term data for testing and calibration, this simple model provides a structure for generating hypotheses, collecting targeted data, and assessing the potential impacts of stream disturbance or restoration on entire stream ecosystems. Further, the model illustrates the potential for future coupled stream models to explore spatial and temporal linkages.     

The role of sediment specific gravity and availability on cluster evolution

The objective of this experimental study was to account for the role of sediment availability and specific gravity on cluster formation and cluster geometric characteristics (spacing and size). To isolate the effects of sediment availability and specific gravity on cluster evolution, mono‐sized spheres were used to simulate the cluster evolutionary cycle. Overall, twelve experimental runs were carried out in the laboratory flume. Six of these tests were performed by using glass spheres (specific gravity, SG = 2·58) and the other six by employing an equal combination of glass and Teflon spheres (SG = 2·12) of the same diameter to evaluate the role of specific gravity on cluster evolution. The three sediment availability conditions that were investigated here simulated isolated gravel elements, pool–riffle sequences and densely packed gravel‐bed. An advanced image analysis technique was employed to track the evolution of cluster microforms and provide quantitative information about the size and shape of clusters and the number of clusters per unit area. The results of this study showed that: (1) sediment availability affects the architecture and size of cluster microforms; and (2) clusters consisting of mono‐sized sediments start disintegrating at twice the incipient conditions. By performing complementary tests for the isolated gravel elements case, it was found that the evolutionary cycle of individual clusters could be described as follows, in order of increasing stress: no cluster→two particle cluster→comet→triangle→rhomboid→break up. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.