Feeding Ecology Lab

Nicole Neumann
BIOL 3140H
Friday, November 7th 2014

Abb
revi
atio
n
Gas
t
Am
ph
Isop

Prey
Type

Gasto
pod
Amph
ipod
Isopo
d
Cla
Clado
d
ceran
Cop Cope
e
pod
Eph Ephe
e
mero
ptera
n
Tric Tricho
ptera
n
Cole Coleo
ptera
n
Chir Chiro
nomi
d
Oth Nondip
Chiro
nomi
d
Dipte
ran
Fish Fish
Ter
Terres
In
trial
insect
Plec Pleco
ptera
Ostr Ostra
pod
Odo Odon
n
ata
Ara Arach
c
inidae
Meg Megal
a
opter
a
Cru Crust
s
acean

Results
Table 1. Prey type abbreviations.

Objective 1:
Figure 1. Percentage of prey type eaten by counts taken from the
stomachs of young and old Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch. The
fishes were caught in September in the Otonabee River.

The two most preyed upon prey types of a Pumpkinseed are

Chir and Clad. Chir take up about 27% of their diet and Clad take
up about 21%. The two most preyed about prey types of a Yellow
Perch are Clad and Amph. Clad takes up about 35% of their diet
and Amph takes up about 26%. See Table 1 for abbreviations.

Figure 2. Percentage of prey type eaten relative to the average volume of prey
found in the stomachs of young and old Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch. The fishes
were caught in September in the Otonabee River.
The two prey types that took up the most percentage of volume in
Pumpkinseeds stomach were Chir and Clad. Chir took up about 27% and Clad took
up about 19%. As for the Yellow Perch, the two were Clad and Amph. Clad took up
about 31% and Amph took up about 29% of their stomachs. See Table 1 for
abbreviations.

Percentage of Prey Eaten by PS & YP

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Pumpkinseed
Yellow Perch

Prey Type

Figure 3. Percentage of prey type eaten by young and old Pumpkinseed and Yellow
Perch. The fishes were caught in September in the Otonabee River.

The two most eaten upon prey types of both young and old Pumpkinseed are
Chir and Amph. Chir take up about 65% and Amph take up about 48% of their diets.
As for Yellow Perch, the prey type that was the most part of their diet was Clad at
55%, and Amph and Chir are about tied at 52%. See Table 1 for abbreviations.

Objective 2:
Table 2. Average niche overlaps of young and old Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch
found during September in the Otonabee River.

The niche overlap of Yellow Perch on Pumpkinseed is about 99%. This is the
percentage of prey types that young and old individuals of both species consumed.
The niche overlap average of Pumpkinseed on Yellow Perch is about 72%. This is the
percentage of the same prey types both age groups of both species ate. The overall
species overlap average is about 85% which is a significant similarity of diet.
Objective 3:
Table 3. Average niche overlaps of Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch of YOY (young-ofyear) vs. older found during September in the Otonabee River.

The species overlap average of young Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch was
smaller than that of the old Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch (species overlap avg. of
young = 0.765372; species overlap avg. of old = 0.839173).

Discussion
In a study done by Keast, an anaylsis of stomachs of pumpkinseeds showed
revealed a diet mainly consisting of chironomid larvae, isopods, as well as a few
amphipods, trichoptera larvae, and Ephemeroptera nymphs (Keast, 1978). These
results are similar to those we received. The importance of Cladocera was also

found to be high to very young fish as well which is true in Figure 1, 2, and 3
because Clad was one of the prey types mostly preyed upon (Keast, 1978). Refer to
any Figure for abbreviations. Age-class separation in relation to diet overlaps was
found to be minor between the species (Keast, 1978). Results prove similarity to
Keasts study (species overlap avg. of young = 0.765372; species overlap avg. of
old = 0.839173).
In another study done by Keast, diets of different age classes of Yellow Perch
were examined and diet overlaps showed to have dropped drastically with
increasing age gap (Keast, 1977). This was not the case in our results. Our results
showed that as the age gap between young and old Yellow Perch increases, the
overlap between them also increases, in comparison to Keasts study showing the
opposite.

References
Keast, A. (1977). Diet overlaps and feeding relationships between the year classes
in the yellow perch

(Perca flavescens). Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2(1), 53-70.

Keast, A. (1978). Feeding interrelations between age-groups of pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) and
comparisons with bluegill (L. macrochirus). Journal of the Fisheries Board of Canada, 35(1), 12-

27.

Appendix
Table 4. Species overlap averages of young and old Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch.

Table 5. Species overlap averages of young Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch.

Table 6. Species overlap averages of old Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch