Growth, production and energy transformations in the salt-marsh killifishFundulus heteroclitus

✍ Scribed by I. Valiela; J. E. Wright; J. M. Teal; S. B. Volkmann

• Book ID: 104755484
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1977
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 717 KB
• Volume: 40
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0025-3162
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00396259

✦ Synopsis

P o p u l a t i o n s of Fundulus heteroclitus (L.) at the b e g i n n i n g of a growth season in a New England salt marsh consist of 3 yearly age classes, with the l-year-old class cont r i b u t i n g most of the biomass. C a l c u l a t i o n of .production rates r e v e a l e d that the young fish were the most active part of the p o p u ! a t i o n and that females were more p r o d u c t i v e than males. The entire p o p u l a t i o n spent equal amounts of energy in growth and in metabolism. Including the young of the year, we o b t a i n e d total production of 160 kg dry weight/ha, a value among the highest o b t a i n e d for natural fish populations. About 5 to 15% of the p r o d u c t i o n is available to predators. Rates of food c o n s u m p t i o n by ~. h e t e r o c l i t u s a r e high enough to turn over the p o p u l a t i o n of prey r e l a t i v e l y often. Populations of F. heteroclitus are thus capable of e x e r t i n g an important influence on the abundance and d i s t r i b u t i o n of their prey.