Acronym NA
Category
Aquaculture
Title Competition and compensatory growth in fish - ecological mechanisms and implications for biological risk assessment Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Jörgen Johnsson Coordinator email Jorgen.Johnsson@bioenv.gu.se
Coordinator institution
UGOT - University of Gothenburg (Sweden)
Institutions involved
NA
Start year 2006 End year 2008 Funding (€) € 15,000 Website NA Summary We investigate ecological mechanisms of competition and compensatory growth in fish. The proposed research is of basic ecological interest, but can also generate baseline data to develop guidelines for supplementary release programs and help predict ecological effects of escaped farm and transgenic fish on natural populations. (1) We investigate the relative importance of exploitative and interference competition on density regulation in salmonids. Competition is induced by adding either small- (exploitation) or large sized (interference) brown trout to sections of a natural stream. The growth and movement of resident fish is then measured to evaluate the relative effects of the different modes of competition; (2) In a related experiment in stream channels we estimate the relative strength of competition imposed by normal and transgenic coho salmon on resident conspecifics. Here food delivery is manipulated to test the hypothesis that the relative importance of interference competition increases when food resources are easy to defend; (3) Are fish able to use social cues from conspecific competitors to monitor their relative energy status and adjust behaviour and growth accordingly? To address this hypothesis growth and behaviour in brown trout parr are monitored after a period of either restricted or unrestricted (control) feeding. To test the effect of the social environment fish are either held singly or in visual and chemical contact with large or small competitors.
Keywords
Trout;
Fish biology;
Salmon;
Fish;
Marine Region
17
Bothnian Sea (27.IIId.30)
24
Sound, Belt Sea or Transition Area (27.IIIb,c)
27
Bothnian Bay (27.IIId.31)
14
Skagerrak, Kattegat (27.IIIa)
23
Baltic West of Bornholm (27.IIId.24)
18
West of Gotland (27.IIId.27)
22
Southern Central Baltic-West (27.IIId.25)
20
Archipelago Sea (27.IIId. 29)
21
Southern Central Baltic-East (27.IIId.26)
16
East of Gotland or Gulf of Riga (27.IIId.28)
19
Gulf of Finland (27.IIId.32)
11
Marine Region Map
