Estimating larval fish ingestion rates: can laboratory derived values be reliably extrapolated to the wild?

Abstract

Larval dry weight, temperature and food density explained 85% of the variance in the laboratory derived ingestion rates of 11 species. After removing the effects of larval size and water temperature on ingestion rates, larval functional response was steepest at food densities <185 μg l-1; beyond this level, ingestion rates were independent of food density. Comparison of the laboratory functional response with natural microzooplankton densities shows that 1) larvae are unlikely to feed at maximal rates in the sea; 2) larval feeding rates are most sensitive to changes in food abundance across the range of food densities that are most likely to occur in nature. However, in situ ingestion rate estimates for 8 species of marine fish larvae indicate that these larvae fed at rates independent of food density and near-maximally, despite relatively low food densities. The difference between in situ and laboratory estimates of ingestion rates as a function of prey density results primarily from the failure of most integrated census estimates of prey density to adequately represent the real contact rate of larvae with their prey and the failure of most laboratory experimental designs to incorporate relevant variables known to influence prey encounter rates and selection. -from Authors