Falke Landon P, Smith Brian E, Rowe Stacy, Peters Rebecca J, Sheehan Timothy F
Azura Consulting LLC Contractor for Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA.
Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA.
J Fish Biol. 2025 Apr;106(4):1095-1111. doi: 10.1111/jfb.16026. Epub 2024 Dec 9.
Ecosystem management requires an integrated understanding of ecological interactions. In the Gulf of Maine (GoM), trophic information pertaining to commercially important groundfishes and nearshore prey communities is lacking. We characterized nearshore communities and groundfish diets using data collected from nearshore surveys (864 bottom trawls and 3638 stomach samples of six groundfish species) conducted biannually (spring and fall) in Midcoast Maine and Penobscot Bay from 2012 to 2022. Groundfish diets were dominated by some of the most available nearshore prey (gadiform and clupeiform fishes and pandalid and crangonid shrimps). Shifts in relative prey availability over environmental gradients (e.g., depth and position along the coast), across seasons, and over years corresponded with parallel patterns in prey contributions to groundfish diets in specific predator-prey interactions. Negative trends in the relative availability and diet occurrence of signature GoM prey taxa (Northern shrimp Pandalus borealis, Atlantic herring Clupea harengus, and euphausiids) indicate that broader ecosystem changes, such as steady rises in water temperature and shifts in species distributions, are impacting nearshore trophic dynamics in the GoM. These observations provide timely information on mechanisms that underlie groundfish productivity and warrant inclusion of nearshore trophic dynamics in relevant ecosystem models.
生态系统管理需要对生态相互作用有综合的理解。在缅因湾（GoM），缺乏与具有商业重要性的底栖鱼类和近岸猎物群落相关的营养信息。我们利用2012年至2022年在缅因州中海岸和彭诺布斯科特湾每年春秋两季进行的近岸调查（864次底拖网捕捞和六种底栖鱼类的3638个胃样本）所收集的数据，对近岸群落和底栖鱼类的饮食进行了特征描述。底栖鱼类的饮食主要由一些最常见的近岸猎物组成（鳕形目和鲱形目鱼类以及长额虾科和褐虾科虾类）。环境梯度（如深度和沿海岸位置）、季节和年份间相对猎物可获得性的变化，与特定捕食者 - 猎物相互作用中猎物对底栖鱼类饮食贡献的平行模式相对应。缅因湾标志性猎物类群（北方长额虾Pandalus borealis、大西洋鲱Clupea harengus和磷虾）的相对可获得性和饮食出现的负趋势表明，更广泛的生态系统变化，如水温稳步上升和物种分布变化，正在影响缅因湾的近岸营养动态。这些观察结果提供了关于底栖鱼类生产力潜在机制的及时信息，并保证在相关生态系统模型中纳入近岸营养动态。
