Growth and dietary niche in Salvelinus alpinus and Salvelinus fontinalis as revealed by stable isotope analysis

Abstract

Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, and brook charr, Salvelinus fontinalis, inhabiting three lakes in the de la Trinité River and adjacentwatershed, north shore, Gulf of St. Lawrence, were sampled in 1998. Arctic charr growth differed among lakes with the smallest fish coming from the largest lake. Arctic charr weight–length equation exponents were almost identical at all sample sites. Brook charr growth was also similar in all lakes. July stomach samples from Arctic charr consisted almost entirely of cladocerans in the largest lake, less so in the intermediate sized lake and were mostly aquatic insects in the smallest lake. Brook charr stomach contents were more varied and included fish. Carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotope analyses (SIA) were used to provide a spatially and temporally integrated image of charr diets. SIA corroborated observed among-lake differences and similarities in species diets and suggested lake morphometry may influence measured results. The δ15N signature in brook charr muscle increased with fork-length, as a result of a shift towards piscivory with size. The δ15N signature in Arctic charr muscle tissue showed a significant negative correlation with fork-length in two of the studied lakes that appears related to dietary niche shifts. Results demonstrate the ability of SIA to detect dietary shifts otherwise unobservable from standard gut content analysis.