Lauren Wiesebron
Dynamic trophic linkages between forage fish and zooplankton in Northern Chilean Patagonia
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Project Proposal:
In Northern Patagonia, it is not known how adult forage fish diets respond to the variable seasonal availability of zooplankton, nor whether there is inter-species competition for these prey. In other systems, such as in the Benguela Current near South Africa, differences in feeding preferences of cohabiting sardines and anchovies have been proposed to explain changes in their abundances in the context of long-term oceanographic change. In this complex region where zooplankton abundances and communities change radically between seasons, how do forage fish species share prey resources?
This study would be the first to explicitly examine how three apparently similar plankton feeding species share resources in a variable environment that undergoes drastic seasonal changes in productivity. Prior research has determined the trophic position of sprat in Northern Patagonia but no study has been conducted comparing the diet samples and stable isotopes for the three forage fish species.
The research for this project will be performed at the University of Concepción (UdeC) under the supervision of Professor Leonardo Castro. I will use fish and zooplankton samples collected in spring 2018 by Prof. Castro’s lab prior to my arrival, and I will collect additional samples in winter and early spring 2019. The concurrence of fish and zooplankton samples will allow a direct comparison between the fish diets and the zooplankton availability.
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Proposal:
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