CESIMAR - CENPAT   25625
CENTRO PARA EL ESTUDIO DE SISTEMAS MARINOS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Long-Term Stability in the Trophic Ecology of a Pelagic Forager Living in a Changing Marine Ecosystem
Autor/es:
LOIZAGA, ROCÍO; VALES, DAMIÁN G.; GARCÍA, NÉSTOR A.; CARDONA, LUIS; CRESPO, ENRIQUE A.; LOIZAGA, ROCÍO; VALES, DAMIÁN G.; GARCÍA, NÉSTOR A.; CARDONA, LUIS; CRESPO, ENRIQUE A.
Revista:
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
Editorial:
Frontiers Media SA
Referencias:
Año: 2020 vol. 7 p. 1 - 10
ISSN:
2296-7745
Resumen:
Natural or human-induced environmental changes can modify the structure of ecologicalcommunities and thus alter food web interactions. After the collapse of hake stocks(Merluccius hubbsi) provoked by fisheries over the Patagonian shelf in 1997 profoundchanges have taken place in the community, including long-term dietary shifts in somemarine vertebrate predators. Stable carbon (d13C) and nitrogen (d15N) isotope ratios inbone collagen of subadult and adult male South American fur seals (Arctocephalusaustralis) were measured for the period 1976?2017 to investigate if the changesoccurred in the marine community from northern and central Patagonia affected the dietof this predator. Suess corrected d13C values and d15N values in bone collagen of furseals did not change significantly over the study period. According to this, male fur sealshave remained as pelagic foragers without changing their trophic position nor switchingtheir main preys in the Patagonian food web over the last four decades. This longtermstability in the diet of fur seals contrasts with dietary changes reported for benthicforagers in the region. Although long-term diet studies are restricted to a few marinepredators in the region, current evidence suggests that benthic-demersal foragers weremore prone to dietary shifts than pelagic ones after perturbations that occurred in themarine community of northern and central Patagonia.