PEIXES EXPLORADORES DE FUNDO: UMA ABORDAGEM CIENCIOMÉTRICA SOBRE GUILDAS TRÓFICAS

Abstract

The classification of species into trophic guilds has been widely used in studies of ecological interactions. However, the high amount of definitions of guilds and the overlap of terms has hampered the standardization for the bottom-feeder fishes. In this context, this study aimed to quantify, through a scientometric analysis, the scientific production about bottom-feeder fish species and the trophic guilds in which they are included, as well as discuss the used definitions. We carried out a survey in the Web of Knowledge and Scopus databases in which we analyzed publications according to the trophic guild type, year of publication, the first author’s country, climate, the journal of publication, the approach, and trophic guild definitions. We found few studies about the bottom-feeder guild; however, we observed an increasing number of papers published since 1990. The regions with the highest amount of publications were the tropical and temperate regions, especially the United States, Brazil and Netherlands. Observational publications approaches were carried out in freshwater environments, emphasizing dietary studies. We found different definitions for the bottom-feeder category, and the classification criteria were based mainly on food resource and feeding site. Regarding invertivores and benthophagous fishes, many publications have used only one of the terms, and the classification criteria and the description of the food items in both guilds often overlapped. The use of “bottom-feeder” can be used when the objective is only to describe the fish-feeding site. On the other hand, the terms “detritivorous”, “benthophagous”, “iliophagous”, “invertivores” and “mud-feeder” should be used when referring specifically to fish diet.