Experience affects performance of ten-spined sticklebacks foraging on zooplankton |
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Authors: | Esa Ranta Visa Nuutinen |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Zoology, University of Helsinki, P. Rautatiekatu 13, SF-00100 Helsinki 10, Finland |
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Abstract: | To study the effects of short-term experience on prey size-selection ten-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) were fed 7–13 days with five differing diets of novel prey, Daphnia magna. The diets consisted either of a mixture of two prey size classes (1.7 and 2.2 mm) or of single-sized (1.7 and 2.2 mm) prey.
Before and after the diets, the sticklebacks' prey size selection was tested with a 1:1 ratio of 1.7 and 2.2 mm D. magna.
Sticklebacks made more attempts to capture large than small prey, but their foraging success was better for small than for
large prey. Sticklebacks fed with a diet of both prey sizes chose significantly more large prey on the 13th day than on the
7th day or at the beginning of the experiment. Handling times for both Daphnia size classes decreased slightly with increasing foraging experience. Inexperienced sticklebacks made more unsuccessful strikes
on large prey than did experienced fish. Foraging success on large prey improved somewhat with increasing experience in all
but one diet group. The results indicate that experience affected ten-spined sticklebacks' prey selection. |
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Keywords: | sticklebacks size-selective foraging zooplankton experience Pungitius pungitius Daphnia magna |
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