Dependence of feeding rates on body mass when food density is limiting to growth

作者：van Poorten Brett T^*; Walters Carl J

来源：Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 2015, 72(12): 1916-1922.

DOI：10.1139/cjfas-2015-0204

Bioenergetics models are commonly used to predict effects of changes in metabolic rates and food availability on growth. However, food intake rate generally is assumed to vary asWd, where d = 2/3, an assumption based on observations from feeding trials in laboratory studies. Further, the von Bertalanffy growth VBGF) is specifically integrated using this assumption. We argue that when considered from an ecological perspective, d is highly uncertain, dependent on how swimming speed, reactive distance, and prey biomass varies ontogenetically with the growth of a predator. Incorrectly specifying d leads to incorrect predictions of consumption and metabolism, especially at younger ages that are typically under-sampled. Three alternate means of detecting departures from d = 2/3 are provided, the most promising of which involves fixing initial length of the generalized VBGF to the length at endogenous feeding and directly calculating von Bertalanffy parameters (L-8, K, t(0)). Using this approach, it may be possible to more accurately estimate consumption and metabolism and to characterize lifetime growth.

• 出版日期2015-12