Dataset: Damselfish Energetics

Name: Damselfish energetics from multiple shallow reef sites in the Caribbean between June 2016-2019
Published: 2023-02-01
Keywords: Stegastes, biomass, Gnathiid isopod, biota, oceans

View Data: Data not available yet

Cite This Dataset

Spatial Extent: N:18.4703942 E:-64.5725066 S:17.939 W:-67.0571313

Temporal Extent: 2016-06 - 2019-06

Project:

Beyond Cleaning and Symbiosis: Ecology of 'Ticks of the Sea' on Coral Reefs (Gnathiid isopod ecology)

Principal Investigator:

Paul C. Sikkel (Arkansas State University)

Student:

Matthew Nicholson (Arkansas State University)

Contact:

Matthew Nicholson (University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, UM-RSMAS)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Taylor Heyl (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Version:

Version Date:

2023-02-01

Restricted:

Yes

Release Date:

2023-12-31

Validated:

Current State:

Data not available

Damselfish energetics from multiple shallow reef sites in the Caribbean between June 2016-2019

Abstract:

Food webs are a complex array of trophic interactions. With a heavy emphasis on “classic” predator-prey interactions, most studies of trophic dynamics completely omitted parasitic interactions. However, recent work has shown that parasites contribute significantly to many aspects of trophic structure. In the current study, I have estimated the biomass transfer by parasites and predators from members of the genus Stegastes from multiple sites in the Caribbean. These results show that most of the parasite-driven biomass transfer comes from ectoparasitic gnathiid isopods. Moreover, I have found that predation rates are high for juveniles and decrease as they become adults, while the opposite is true for parasitism. Despite this, more biomass is being transferred from adults than younger stages via both predation and parasitism. I also show that in coral reef ecosystems, parasitism can transfer more biomass than predation for adult Stegastes. These results highlight the contribution of parasites to energy flow in coral reef environments and suggest that they must be considered in future food web studies.

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Methods & Sampling

This dataset represents Damselfish energetics from multiple shallow reef sites between June 2016-2019 from shallow Caribbean reef habitats: Regional location of the sampling site (STJ = St. John, USVI, STT = St. Thomas, USVI, CUA = Culebra, PR, PRO = La Parguera, PR, GNA = Guana Island, BVI).

Damselfish (10-15 per set) were caught with a modified cast net, secured in individual mesh cages, and placed on the reef for ten 45-minute “sets” which were distributed over a 24-hour period. I chose 45 minutes because it was a sufficient length of time for gnathiids to locate and attach, while also being unlikely that any would complete feeding and drop off prior to retrieval. At each site, the most common species of Stegastes was selected for caged sets. The dusk and dawn time periods, which are known peak times for gnathiid activity, include two sets that have a small overlap in time to capture the full magnitude of the sharp peaks in activity. The entire ten-set distribution was completed at each of the five sites for adult damselfish.

To compare infestation among various post-settlement life-history stages I simultaneously set caged fish representing juvenile, intermediate, and adult stages during peak gnathiid activity times. Special care was taken to place individuals of each stage in locations where they could likely be found at that time. I also performed sets to compare gnathiid infestation among adults of different Stegastes species. As with the life history comparison sets, care was taken to place individuals of each species in the habitats with which they naturally associate. Life history and species comparison sets were completed for a subset of sampling sites.

Adult damselfish were caught and tagged near the surface with T-bar small anchor tags (Hühn et al., 2014). Tagged fish were placed back in their respective territory and after a period of 7 days were checked weekly. The 7-day lag time allowed for any deleterious effects of the tagging procedure to manifest themselves and be excluded from comparisons. Any fish missing from their territory or the surrounding area was assumed to have been consumed (Booth and Hixon, 1999; Carr et al., 2002). Additionally, juvenile Stegastes were caught and tagged with elastomer tags and monitored for a period of 14 days. The shorter time period used versus adult fish was based on the expectation of higher mortality of juvenile fish.

The manuscript is currently in prep, to be submitted in early 2023.

Data Processing Description

Length-weight estimates were generated from bayesian estimates (retrieved from Fishbase.se).

BCO-DMO Processing Description:
- Missing data identifier ‘NA’ replaced with 'nd' (BCO-DMO's default missing data identifier)
- Added a conventional header with dataset name, PI names, version date
- Added columns for “Latitude” and “Longitude”
- Rounded columns: “Latitude” and “Longitude” to 3 decimal places (or to the thousandth place)

More Information about this dataset

Funding Sources

Funding Source	Award Number
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-1536794

Deployments

None available yet

Instruments

Fish Cage

Supplied Name:

Supplied Description:

Plastic hardware cloth and zip ties were used to make cages for fish sets.

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Fish Cage

Community Identifier: http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L05/current/90/

Generic Description:

Used to catch fish.

Hand Net

Supplied Name:

Supplied Description:

Assorted nets were used to collect fish.

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Hand Net

Generic Description:

A hand net (also called a scoop net or dip net) is a net or mesh basket held open by a hoop. They are used for scooping fish near the surface of the water.

tracking tag

Supplied Name: Subcutaneous elastomer tags

Supplied Description:

Subcutaneous elastomer tags were used to tag non-adult fish (https://www.nmt.us/visible-implant-elastomer/)

Instrument Type

Generic Name: tracking tag

Generic Description:

Devices attached to living organisms with the purpose of determining the location of those organisms as a function of time after tagging and release.

tracking tag

Supplied Name: Floy T-bar anchor tags

Supplied Description:

Floy T-bar anchor tags were used for tagging fish (chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/http://www.floytag.com/uploads/floycatalog.pdf)

Instrument Type

Generic Name: tracking tag

Generic Description:

Devices attached to living organisms with the purpose of determining the location of those organisms as a function of time after tagging and release.

Parameters

Date and time formats are described in python strftime() syntax.

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
id	Numbered identifier for individuals in study	unitless	sta_id
site	Sample site within islands	unitless	site
island	name of island where sampling took place	unitless	region
latitude	Latitude of sampling site	decimal degrees	lat
longitude	Longitude of sampling site (West is negative)	decimal degrees	lon
stage	life history stage of fish in study (ad=adult, int=intermediate, juv=juvenile)	unitless	stage
species	fish species (sa=Stegastes adustus, sd=Stegeastes diencaeus, sl=Stegastes leucostictus, sp=Stegastes planifrons	unitless	species
seg	part of study the sample belongs to: lhc=life history comparison; parasites=24 hour parasite infestations; sc=species comparison; pred=fish predation	unitless	comment
block	time block for 24 hour parasite infestation (block corresponds to the time they were set)	unitless	time_begin
starttime	the time that fish cages were placed on the reef	unitless	time_start
endtime	the time that fish cages were retrieved from the reef	unitless	time_end
p1	count of the first stage gnathiids	unitless	count
p2	count of the second stage gnathiids	unitless	count
p3	count of the third stage gnathiids	unitless	count
ptotal	total count of gnathiids	unitless	count
length	total length of gnathiids	centimeters (cm)	length
massgramsmeas	mass of subset of individuals that were weighed	grams (g)	mass
surv	survival (for predation monitoring)	unitless	no_bcodmo_term
comments	comments or notes on fish	unitless	comment
biomasscalc	calculated biomass from length:weight regression	grams (g)	wet_weight_biomass
p1bio	biomass removed from first stage gnathiids	grams (g)	wet_weight_biomass
p2bio	biomass removed from second stage gnathiids	grams (g)	wet_weight_biomass
p3bio	biomass removed from third stage gnathiids	grams (g)	wet_weight_biomass
ptotbio	total biomass removed from fish by gnathiids	grams (g)	wet_weight_biomass
propbio	proportion of that individual's biomass transferred	grams (g)	wet_weight_biomass

Database

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Dataset: Damselfish Energetics