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Spatial and seasonal variation in δ15N and δ13C values in a mesopredator shark, Squalus suckleyi, revealed through multitissue analyses

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Abstract

We used variance decomposition to explore the importance of body size, sex, location, and sampling period as predictors of intrapopulation variation in δ15N and δ13C values in spiny dogfish Squalus suckleyi from the Puget Sound–Strait of Georgia basin. Isotopes in two tissues with long (dorsal white muscle) and short (liver) isotopic turnover rates (~1 year and ~3–4 months, respectively) were sampled to evaluate whether the relative importance of each variable differed depending on the time span over which diet information was integrated. Significant spatial variation was observed in both muscle and liver isotopic composition, whereby location uniquely explained 25 and 17 % of the total variance, respectively. The remaining variables explained considerably less variation in both tissue types. Furthermore, evidence of seasonal isotopic shifts in δ15N and δ13C values was apparent, but differed widely in direction and magnitude among groups. These findings suggest that members of spiny dogfish schools may share a common feeding history, possibly by spending extended time periods (weeks to months) foraging in a spatially fixed region. Another explanation is that individuals may move and feed in aggregations that exist for extended periods. These complex group-level patterns suggest that even for large-bodied, motile predators such as sharks, population-level diet estimates derived from averaging isotope ratios of individuals collected from only a few locations may poorly reflect the true population mean.

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Acknowledgments

Boat time for sampling was supported through funds provided by the Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen Program, NOAA Fisheries. Additional funding for stable isotope analyses was provided by NOAA Fisheries. A. Beaudreau, A. Galloway, M. Anderson, M. Hunsicker, R. Sweeting, R. Beamish and C. Paulsen assisted with specimen collection. K. Andrews, G. Williams, D. Schindler, A. Wirsing, N. Mantua, and three anonymous reviewers provided comments that greatly improved earlier versions of this manuscript. K. Andrews aided design of Fig. 1 and J. West kindly supplied Pacific krill isotope values for Puget Sound depicted in Fig. 2. The author (J.C.P.R.) was supported by funding through the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group.

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  1. Jonathan C. P. Reum

    Present address: Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2725 Montlake Blvd. E, Seattle, WA, 98112, USA

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  1. School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Jonathan C. P. Reum & Timothy E. Essington

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Reum, J.C.P., Essington, T.E. Spatial and seasonal variation in δ15N and δ13C values in a mesopredator shark, Squalus suckleyi, revealed through multitissue analyses. Mar Biol 160, 399–411 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-2096-1

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