Forage ecology of Neotropical fish in Brazilian biomes using stable isotopes.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 0330500 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1879-1026 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00489697 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Sci Total Environ Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: Amsterdam, Elsevier.
    • Subject Terms:
      Fishes*/metabolism ; Carbon Isotopes*/analysis ; Nitrogen Isotopes*/analysis ; Ecosystem* ; Environmental Monitoring* ; Food Chain*; Animals ; Brazil
    • Abstract:
      Neotropical regions are responsible for harboring most of the global diversity of freshwater fish, providing essential ecosystem services for society. Human activities (e.g., land use changes) jeopardize aquatic ecosystems as well as species, communities, etc., impairing ecosystem services. We investigate the impact of human disturbance on the foraging ecology of Neotropical freshwater fishes across five Brazilian biomes by stable isotope analysis. We analyzed carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotopic compositions of Neotropical fishes, sourced from the SIA-BRA dataset. Fishes were categorized into herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores. We tested the correlation between human disturbances, indicated by the human disturbance index (hdi), and changes in fish diets. We expected that the assimilation of C 4 ‑carbon from exotic forage would increase with higher disturbance levels, while δ 15 N levels would similarly rise due to nitrogen input from anthropogenic sources. We found increases in fish δ 13 C with human disturbance increases, suggesting greater assimilation of C 4 carbon in places where native vegetation was replaced by C 4 sources, confirmed by isotopic mixing models. In contrast, δ 15 N values did not show a significant relationship with human disturbance, probably due to the complex interactions and multiple sources of nitrogen in disturbed environments. Our finds suggest that stable isotope analysis provides a powerful tool for monitoring the effects of landscape changes on aquatic food webs. Particularly, the δ 13 C values of detritivorous fish that feed on C 4 plant detritus could serve as bioindicators of environmental degradation. However, a specific isotopic characterization of each site would be valuable for more accurate niche information.
      Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
      (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: (13)C; (15)N; Anthropic impacts; Trophic niches; Use of land
    • Accession Number:
      0 (Carbon Isotopes)
      0 (Nitrogen Isotopes)
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20241122 Date Completed: 20241220 Latest Revision: 20241220
    • Publication Date:
      20241220
    • Accession Number:
      10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177682
    • Accession Number:
      39577576