Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography
Open Access

Ecology; Piscivorous; Coral Reef

Introduction

The dynamics of populations may be significantly impacted by predation. Taylor, 1984, Murdoch, and Oaten, 1975, as well as the composition of ecological communities 1966 by Paine; 1975 by Connell; 1987 by Menge and Sutherland [1,3]. Predation received comparatively little attention as a process that may be structuring coral reef fish communities despite a lengthy history of research in other habitats. Several researchers have attempted to address this issue over the past ten years, including Caley, 1993; Hixon and Beets, 1993; Carr and Hixon, 1995; Connell, 1996; Connell, 1997; Connell, 1998a; Beets, 1997; Beukers and Jones, 1997; Eggleston et al., 1997; Hixon and Carr, 1997; Planes and Lecaillon, 2001; and Webster, 2002 [2,4].

Using regurgitated prey, nutritional analysis is validated

In comparison to 60.53% in summer 1997, C. cyanostigma regurgitated 57.14% of the prey it had eaten in winter 1996. Similarly, in the summer of 1997, C. boenak regurgitated 62.50% of its prey. In both the regurgitated and dissected samples, the relative proportions of fish and invertebrates were quite similar. For C. cyanostigma, the proportion of fish was 62.50% in the regurgitated samples in the winter and 78.26% in the summer, vs 66.66% and 70.00% in the dissected samples, respectively [5,6]. The food and feeding habits of two piscivorous rock-cod species—Cephalopholis cyanostigma and Cephalopholis boenak (Serranidae)—at Lizard Island in Australia’s northern Great Barrier Reef were investigated in this study. In order to track the same populations across time, dietary data was mostly gathered via regurgitated samples. The family structure and abundance of prey communities that had been observed at the same locations and dates were then compared to the results from this study. As a result, it was possible to quantify prey selectivity and look into how predators adjusted their eating rates in response to changes in prey availability. As two of the most prevalent piscivores on Lizard Island, the two target species were perfect for the proposed study [7, 8].

Conclusion

Few researchers have looked into how predators and prey interact on coral reefs. This study has demonstrated that an in-depth analysis of predator-prey relationships may be carried out by integrating dietary analyses of piscivorous fish with details on the quantity and make-up of their prey. Most notably, this strategy enabled us to investigate the characteristics of prey selection and the impact of prey abundance on piscivorous fish feeding rates [9, 10].

Acknowledgements

Bryce Beukers-Stewart received support from an Australian Postgraduate Research Award while working on this project. Bryce Beukers-Stewart received two Merit Research Awards, a Lizard Island Doctoral Fellowship, and funding for his fieldwork, while Geoff Jones received funding from the Australian Research Council.

Conflict of Interest

None.

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