Bioenergetics assessment of fish and crayfish consumption by river otter (Lontra canadensis): Integrating prey availability, diet, and field metabolic rate

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

Volumn 67, Issue 9, 2010, Pages 1439-1448

  Dekar, Matthew P ^a,c   Magoulick, Daniel D ^a   Beringer, Jeff ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS   (United States)

^b MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION   (United States)

^c BAYLOR UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BIOENERGETICS; BIOMASS; CATCH PER UNIT EFFORT; CONSUMER-RESOURCE INTERACTION; CRAYFISH; DIET; METABOLISM; MUSTELID; PREDATOR; PREY AVAILABILITY; STREAM; TROPHIC CASCADE; WATER TEMPERATURE;

ARKANSAS; OZARK MOUNTAINS; UNITED STATES;

ASTACOIDEA; CARNIVORA; LONTRA CANADENSIS; LUTRA CANADENSIS; LUTRINAE; ORCONECTES MEEKI;

EID: 77958034799     PISSN: 0706652X     EISSN: 12057533     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1139/F10-074     Document Type: Article

References (56)

1. Beja, P.R. 1996. An analysis of otter Lutra lutra predation on introduced American crayfish Procambarus clarkii in Iberian streams. J. Appl. Ecol. 33(5): 1156-1170. doi:10.2307/2404695.
2. Ben-David, M., Williams, T.M., and Ormseth, O.A. 2000. Effects of oiling on exercise physiology and diving behavior of river otters: a captive study. Can. J. Zool. 78(8): 1380-1390. doi:10. 1139/cjz-78-8-1380.
3. Bennett, C., Giese, J., Keith, B., McDaniel, R., Maner, M., O'Shaughnessy, N., and Singleton, B. 1987. Boston Mountains ecoregion. In Physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of least-disturbed reference streams in Arkansas' ecoregions. Vol. 1. Edited by C. Shackleford. State of Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology, Little Rock, Arkansas. pp. 477-568.
4. Blundell, G.M., Kern, J.W., Bowyer, R.T., and Duffy, L.K. 1999. Capturing river otters: a comparison of Hancock and leg-hold traps. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 27(1): 184-192.
5. Breathnach, S., and Fairley, J.S. 1993. The diet of otters Lutra lu-tra (L.) in the Clare River System. Biology and Environment. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. B, 93(3): 151-158.
6. Brewer, S.K., DiStefano, R.J., and Rabeni, C.F. 2009. The influence of age-specific habitat selection by a stream crayfish community (Orconectes spp.) on secondary production. Hydrobiologia, 619(1): 1-10. doi:10.1007/s10750-008-9577-8.
7. Burnham, K.P., and Anderson, D.R. 2002. Model selection and multimodel inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer-Verlag, New York.
8. Carss, D.N., and Parkinson, S.G. 1996. Errors associated with otter Lutra lutra faecal analysis. I. Assessing general diet from spraints. J. Zool. (Lond.), 238(2): 301-317. doi:10.1111/j.14697998.1996.tb05396.x.
9. Costa, D.P. 1982. Energy, nitrogen, and electrolyte flux and sea water drinking in the sea otter Enhydra lutris. Physiol. Zool. 55(1): 35-44.
10. Cote, D., Gregory, R.S., and Stewart, H.M.J. 2008. Size-selective predation by river otter (Lontra canadensis) improves refuge properties of shallow coastal marine nursery habitats. Can. J. Zool. 86(11): 1324-1328. doi:10.1139/Z08-120.
11. Covell, D.F., Miller, D.S., and Karasov, W.H. 1996. Cost of locomotion and daily energy expenditure by free-living swift foxes (Vulpes velox): a seasonal comparison. Can. J. Zool. 74(2): 283-290. doi:10.1139/z96-035.
12. Crait, J.R., and Ben-David, M. 2007. Effects of river otter activity on terrestrial plants in trophically altered Yellowstone Lake. Ecology, 88(4): 1040-1052. doi:10.1890/06-0078. PMID: 17536719.
13. Cummins, K.W., and Wuycheck, J.C. 1971. Caloric equivalents for investigations in ecological energetics. Mitt. Int. Ver. Theor. Angew. Limnol. 18: 1-158.
14. Davis, H.G., Aulerich, R.J., Bursian, S.J., Sikarskie, J.G., and Stuht, J.N. 1992. Feed consumption and food transit time in northern river otters (Lutra canadensis). J. Zoo Wildl. Med. 23(2): 241-244.
15. Delibes, M., Ferreras, P., and Blazquez, M.C. 2000. Why the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) leaves a pond? An observational test of some predictions on prey depletion. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie), 55(1): 57-65.
16. Dorn, N.J., Urgelles, R., and Trexler, J.C. 2005. Evaluating active and passive sampling methods to quantify crayfish density in a freshwater wetland. J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc. 24(2): 346-356. doi:10.1899/04-037.1.
17. Eggleton, M.A., and Schramm, H.L., Jr. 2003. Energetic gradients in catfish feeding in the lower Mississippi River, USA. Ecohydrol. Hydrobiol. 3(1): 27-38.
18. Gessaman, J.A., and Nagy, K.A. 1988. Energy metabolism: errors in gas-exchange conversion factors. Physiol. Zool. 61(6): 507-513.
19. Gorman, T.A., Erb, J.D., McMillan, B.R., and Martin, D.J. 2006. Space use and sociality of river otters (Lontra canadensis) in Minnesota. J. Mammal. 87(4): 740-747. doi:10.1644/05-MAMM-A-337R1.1.
20. Gutzwiller, K.J., and Riffell, S.K. 2007. Using statistical models to study temporal dynamics of animal-landscape relations. In Temporal dimensions of landscape ecology: wildlife responses to variable resources. Edited by J.A. Bissonette and I. Storch. Springer, New York. pp. 93-118.
21. Hein, C.L., Vander Zanden, M.J., and Magnuson, J.J. 2007. Intensive trapping and increased fish predation cause massive population decline of an invasive crayfish. Freshw. Biol. 52(6): 1134-1146. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.2007.01741.x.
22. Hosmer, D.W., and Lemeshow, S. 2000. Applied logistic regression. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
23. Iversen, J.A. 1972. Basal energy metabolism of mustelids. J. Comp. Physiol. 81(4): 341-344. doi:10.1007/BF00697754.
24. Jacobsen, L., and Hansen, H.M. 1996. Analysis of otter (Lutra lutra) spraints. Part 1. Comparison of methods to estimate prey proportions. Part 2. Estimation of the size of prey fish. J. Zool. (Lond.), 238(1): 167-180. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1996. tb05387.x.
25. Kruuk, H. 2006. Otters: ecology, behaviour and conservation. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
26. Kruuk, H., Carss, D.N., Conroy, J.W.H., and Durbin, L. 1993. Otter (Lutra lutra L.) numbers and fish productivity in rivers in northeast Scotland. Symp. Zool. Soc. Lond. 65: 171-191.
27. Kruuk, H., Balharry, E., and Taylor, P.T. 1994. Oxygen consumption of the Eurasian otter Lutra lutra in relation to water temperature. Physiol. Zool. 67(5): 1174-1185.
28. Lagler, K.F. 1947. Lepidological studies. 1. Scale characters of the families of Great Lakes fishes. Trans. Am. Microsc. Soc. 66(2): 149-171. doi:10.2307/3223246.
29. Lifson, N., and McClintock, R. 1966. Theory of use of the turnover rates of body water for measuring energy and material balance. J. Theor. Biol. 12(1): 46-74. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(66)90185-8. PMID:6015431.
30. Lizotte, R.E., Jr., and Kennedy, M.L. 1997. Demography and food habits of the river otter (Lutra canadensis) in western Tennessee. J. Tenn. Acad. Sci. 72(3-4): 56-62.
31. Magalhães, M.F., Beja, P., Canas, C., and Collares-Pereira, M.J. 2002. Functional heterogeneity of dry-season fish refugia across a Mediterranean catchment: the role of habitat and predation. Freshw. Biol. 47(10): 1919-1934. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2427. 2002.00941.x.
32. Magoulick, D.D., and Kobza, R.M. 2003. The role of refugia for fishes during drought: a review and synthesis. Freshw. Biol. 48(7): 1186-1198. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2427.2003.01089.x.
33. Melquist, W.E., and Hornocker, M.G. 1983. Ecology of river otters in west central Idaho. Wildl. Monogr. 83: 1-60.
34. Mundahl, N.D., and Benton, M.J. 1990. Aspects of the thermal ecology of the rusty crayfish Orconectes rusticus (Girard). Oecologia (Berl.), 82(2): 210-216. doi:10.1007/BF00323537.
35. Nagy, K.A. 1980. CO2 production in animals: analysis of potential errors in the doubly labeled water method. Am. J. Physiol. 238(5): 466-473.
36. Nagy, K.A. 1994. Field bioenergetics of mammals: what determines field metabolic rates? Aust. J. Zool. 42(1): 43-53. doi:10. 1071/ZO9940043.
37. Nolet, B.A., and Kruuk, H. 1994. Hunting yield and daily food in take of a lactating otter (Lutra lutra) in Shetland. J. Zool. (Lond.), 233: 326-331.
38. Pfeiffer, P., and Culik, B.M. 1998. Energy metabolism of underwater swimming in river-otters (Lutra lutra L.). J. Comp. Physiol. B, 168(2): 143-148. doi:10.1007/s003600050130. PMID:9542149.
39. Pinheiro, J., Bates, D., DebRoy, S., Sarkar, D., and the R Core Team. 2008. nlme: linear and nonlinear mixed effects models. R package version 3.1-93. Available from http://cran.r-project. org/web/packages/nlme/index.html.
40. Rabeni, C.F. 1992. Trophic linkage between stream centrarchids and their crayfish prey. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 49(8): 1714-1721. doi:10.1139/f92-190.
41. Rambo, R.D. 1998. Ozark stream fish assemblages and black bass population dynamics associated with watersheds of varying land use. M.S. thesis, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas.
42. R Development Core Team. 2008. R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Available from http://www.r-project.org/.
43. Reid, D.G., Code, T.E., Reid, A.C.H., and Herrero, S.M. 1994a. Food habits of the river otter in a boreal ecosystem. Can. J. Zool. 72(7): 1306-1313. doi:10.1139/z94-174.
44. Reid, D.G., Code, T.E., Reid, A.C.H., and Herrero, S.M. 1994b. Spacing, movements, and habitat selection of the river otter in boreal Alberta. Can. J. Zool. 72(7): 1314-1324. doi:10.1139/z94-175.
45. Richards, C., Kutka, F.J., McDonald, M.E., Merrick, G.W., and Devore, P.W. 1996. Life history and temperature effects on catch of northern orconectid crayfish. Hydrobiologia, 319(2): 111-118. doi:10.1007/BF00016879.
46. Roberts, N.M. 2003. River otter food habits in the Missouri Ozarks. M.S. thesis, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.
47. Ruiz-Olmo, J., Jiménez, J., and Chacó, W. 2007. The importance of ponds for the otter (Lutra lutra) during drought periods in Mediterranean ecosystems: a case study in Bergantes River. Mammalia, 71(1-2): 16-24. doi:10.1515/MAMM.2007.003.
48. Sandell, M. 1989. Ecological energetics, optimal body size and sexual size dimorphism: a model applied to the stoat, Mustela erminea L. Funct. Ecol. 3(3): 315-324. doi:10.2307/2389372.
49. Serfass, T.L., Rymon, L.M., and Brooks, R.P. 1990. Feeding relationships of river otters in northeastern Pennsylvania. Trans. Northeast Sect. Wildl. Soc. 47: 43-53.
50. Somers, K.M., and Green, R.H. 1993. Seasonal patterns in trap catches of the crayfish Cambarus bartoni and Orconectes virilis in six south-central Ontario lakes. Can. J. Zool. 71(6): 1136-1145. doi:10.1139/z93-155.
51. Speakman, J.R. 1997. Doubly labelled water: theory and practice. Chapman and Hall, London, UK.
52. Speakman, J.R., and Król, E. 2005. Comparison of different approaches for the calculation of energy expenditure using doubly labeled water in a small mammal. Physiol. Biochem. Zool. 78(4): 650-667. doi:10.1086/430234. PMID:15957119.
53. Tumlison, R., and Karnes, M. 1987. Seasonal changes in food habits of river otters in southwestern Arkansas beaver swamps. Mammalia, 51(2): 225-231. doi:10.1515/mamm.1987.51.2.225.
54. US Geological Survey. 2009. USGS water data for the nation. US Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia. Available from http:// waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis [accessed April 2009].
55. Williams, T.M., Ben-David, M., Noren, S., Rutishauser, M., McDonald, K., and Heyward, W. 2002. Running energetics of the North American river otter: do short legs necessarily reduce efficiency on land? Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A, 133(2): 203-212. doi:10.1016/S1095-6433(02)00136-8.
56. Winstanley, R.K., Buttemer, W.A., and Saunders, G. 2003. Field metabolic rate and body water turnover of the red fox Vulpes vulpes in Australia. Mammal Rev. 33(3-4): 295-301. doi:10. 1046/j.1365-2907.2003.00015.x.