University of Tasmania
Browse
honours_paper.pdf (268.28 kB)

Increasing turbidity significantly alters the diet of brown trout: a multi-year longitudinal study

Download (268.28 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 14:59 authored by Richard Stuart-SmithRichard Stuart-Smith, Alastair RichardsonAlastair Richardson, White, RWG
The stomach contents of adult brown trout Salmo trutta from Lake Sorell, Tasmania, were analysed during 6 years of increasing turbidity to follow changes in the diet associated with dramatic changes in water clarity. Brown trout were sampled from 1996, when turbidity was 26 NTU, to 2001 when turbidity was 141 NTU. The mean relative volume of stomach contents decreased progressively to 2001, by which time it was only one sixth of that in 1996, and the mean diversity of prey in stomachs decreased from an average of more than six species per stomach in 1996 to one species in 2001. The species composition of stomach contents shifted from domination by the phreatoicid isopod Colubotelson sp., to the galaxiid fish Galaxias auratus and the amphipod Austrochiltonia australis, and then the cladoceran Daphnia carinata. To give an indication of diet changes over a typical yearly cycle in the current turbid state of the lake, a sample was taken from each season from December 2000 to September 2001. Two basic diets were found during the year; brown trout specialized on D. carinata in summer and autumn, and G. auratus in winter and spring. Mean diversity of prey was less than two species per stomach in all samples from 2000 to 2001, except for the sample from spring 2001 when it was 2.2 species per stomach, and the mean relative volume of stomach contents was more than three times greater in winter than any other season. The ways in which high turbidity may have influenced the changes in the brown trout diet observed since 1996 and the patterns evident during the seasons of 2000-2001 are discussed. © 2004 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

History

Publication title

Journal of Fish Biology

Volume

65

Pagination

376-388

ISSN

0022-1112

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Place of publication

England

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC