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Switching in Predatory Fish
Abstract
Guppies (Poecilia reticulatus) were given two prey: Drosophila (on the water surface) and tubificid worms (on the aquarium bottom). The densities of the two prey were varied gradually over 12 days, from 4:1 to 1:4, and we measured the predators' diets, time of each meal, and time spent at the top, middle, and bottom of the aquarium. The guppies switched, attacking disproportionately whichever of the two prey was more abundant. Switching resulted when the fish increased the fraction of time spent at the surface as the fraction of Drosophila available increased. They did this in response to changing reward rates. Switching caused density—dependent mortality. Differences between two groups of fish show that switching behavior is more efficient and should be selected for. The result confirms previous generalizations about switching.
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Cited by
Predation on eggs and larvae of marine fishes and the recruitment problem
Bailey, K. M., & Houde, E. D. (1989) · Advances in Marine Biology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2881(08)60187-x · Cited by 1,051
Persistence in models of three interacting predator-prey populations
Freedman, H. I., & Waltman, P. (1984) · Mathematical Biosciences · doi:10.1016/0025-5564(84)90032-4 · Cited by 466
Frequency-dependent selection by predators
Allen, J. A. (1988) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.1988.0061 · Cited by 329
Switching and Sigmoid Functional Response Curves by Damselfly Naiads with Alternative Prey Available
Akre, B. G., & Johnson, D. M. (1979) · The Journal of Animal Ecology · doi:10.2307/4191 · Cited by 184
Invasive lionfish reduce native fish abundance on a regional scale
Ballew, N. G., Bacheler, N. M., Kellison, G. T., & Schueller, A. M. (2016) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep32169 · Cited by 96
Metadata
- Authors
- Murdoch, W. W., Avery, S., & Smyth, M. E. B.
- Venue
- Ecology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1975-08
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1094-1105
- ISSN
- 0012-9658 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2026425898
- Cited by
- 315
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 13.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Murdoch, W. W., Avery, S., & Smyth, M. E. B. (1975). Switching in Predatory Fish. Ecology. https://doi.org/10.2307/1936149
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
