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Trophic ecology of adult male O donata. II . D ietary contributions of aquatic food sources
Author(s) -
CHARI LENIN D.,
MOYO SYDNEY,
RICHOUX NICOLE B.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/een.12459
Subject(s) - trophic level , biology , predation , aquatic insect , ecology , isotope analysis , foraging , aquatic ecosystem , interspecific competition , productivity , live food , fish <actinopterygii> , habitat , fishery , aquaculture , economics , macroeconomics
1. Insects that emerge from rivers provide nutritional subsidies to local riparian predators. Adult damselflies and dragonflies often benefit from aquatic resources, but their high mobility and evasiveness have made it difficult to monitor their diets. 2. A dual fatty acid and stable isotope analysis approach was used to investigate the links between O donata size and behaviour with proportions of their aquatically derived nutritional sources. Additionally, the study investigated the variation in dietary contributions of aquatic food sources to O donata between two sections of a river, each with different aquatic productivity rates. 3. Variations in body size and foraging method of O donata in the K owie R iver ( S outh A frica) contributed to differences in the contributions of aquatic food sources to their diets. Large O donata that consumed prey in flight had smaller proportions of aquatic indicator fatty acids and stable isotope‐generated proportions of aquatic food sources than did the smaller O donata that consumed prey from perches. 4. There was a considerable amount of interspecific variation in indicators of aquatic feeding, but O donata at an upstream site had smaller proportions of aquatic indicators than those at a downstream site which had higher insect emergence rates. 5. The findings of this study contribute information on the dynamics of feeding ecology among adult O donata, and the substantial contributions of aquatic prey (>80% of total diet in some cases) indicated that cross‐boundary trophic linkages via odonates are strong in the K owie R iver.