Can increased structural complexity decrease the predation of an alien crayfish on a native fish?

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• 作者：Jinlong Huang ; Xiaoqun Zheng ; Zhengjun Wu ; Haiyang Liu ; Fengyun Deng
• 关键词：Structural complexity ; Prey density ; Mortality ; Rhodeus sinensis ; Procambarus clarkii ; Alien species
• 刊名：Hydrobiologia
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：November 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：781
• 期：1
• 页码：191-197
• 全文大小：485 KB
• 刊物类别：Biomedical and Life Sciences
• 刊物主题：Life Sciences
  Hydrobiology
  Ecology
  
• 出版者：Springer Netherlands
• ISSN：1573-5117
• 卷排序：781

文摘

Interactions between predators and their prey are influenced by the habitats they occupy. In freshwater ecosystems, submerged vegetation provides protection for prey compared to unvegetated substrata. Using submerged plants (Hydrilla verticillata) as a refuge for Chinese bitterling (Rhodeus sinensis), a native fish, we conducted a series of laboratory experiments to test the impact of structural complexity and prey density on predation rate. We found that the number of Chinese bitterling eaten by alien crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) decreased with the increasing structural complexity and increased with prey density. Similar reductions in predation rate with increased habitat complexity occurred at all three different prey densities. Our study indicates that structural complexity can decrease the crayfish predation on freshwater fishes.