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dc.contributor.authorPusey, BJ
dc.contributor.authorArthington, AH
dc.contributor.authorStewart-Koster, B
dc.contributor.authorKennard, MJ
dc.contributor.authorRead, MG
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-03T11:30:21Z
dc.date.available2017-05-03T11:30:21Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.date.modified2010-09-16T08:19:11Z
dc.identifier.issn0022-1112
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/j.1095-8649.2010.02712.x
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/34031
dc.description.abstractThis article examines the trophic ecology of freshwater fishes (22 species in 15 families) in a wet and dry tropical Australian river of high intra-annual and interannual hydrological variability. Seven major trophic groups were identified by cluster analysis; however, four food items (filamentous algae, chironomid larvae, Trichoptera larvae and Ephemeroptera nymphs) comprised almost half of the average diet of all species. The influence of species, fish size, spatial effects and temporal effects on food use was investigated using redundancy analysis. Size, time and space accounted for little of the perceived variation. Ontogenetic changes in diet were minor and limited to a few large species. Spatial variation in trophic composition of the fish assemblages reflected the effects of the Burdekin Falls and dam, a major geographic barrier, on species distributions. Little spatial variation in diet was detected after accounting for this biogeographical effect. Temporal variations in flow, although marked, had little effect on variations in fish diet composition due to the low temporal diversity of food resources in physically monotonous sand and gravel channels. Species identity accounted for <50% of the observed variation in food choice; omnivory and generalism were pronounced. The aquatic food web of the Burdekin River appears simple, supported largely by autochthonous production (filamentous and benthic microalgae, and to some extent, aquatic macrophytes). Allochthonous food resources appear to be unimportant. The generalist feeding strategies, widespread omnivory and absence of pronounced trophic segregation reported here for Burdekin River fishes may be common to variable and intermittent rivers of subtropical and tropical northern Australia with similar fish communities and may be a general feature of rivers of low habitat diversity and characterized by flow regimes that vary greatly both within and between years.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.description.publicationstatusYes
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherWiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdom
dc.relation.ispartofstudentpublicationN
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom731
dc.relation.ispartofpageto753
dc.relation.ispartofissue3
dc.relation.ispartofjournalJournal of Fish Biology
dc.relation.ispartofvolume77
dc.rights.retentionY
dc.subject.fieldofresearchEcology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchFreshwater ecology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchZoology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchFisheries sciences
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3103
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode310304
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3109
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3005
dc.titleWidespread omnivory and low temporal and spatial variation in the diet of fishes in a hydrologically variable northern Australian river
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.facultyGriffith Sciences, Griffith School of Environment
gro.date.issued2010
gro.hasfulltextNo Full Text
gro.griffith.authorArthington, Angela H.
gro.griffith.authorKennard, Mark J.
gro.griffith.authorStewart-Koster, Ben D.


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