Feeding of fish inhabiting native and non-native macrophyte stands in a Neotropical reservoir

Abstract

Owning to dissimilarity with native macrophytes, invasive macrophytes may negatively affect the diet and foraging efficiency of fishes. We evaluated the invertebrate availability, diet composition, and foraging efficiency of four fish species that use macrophytes as habitat in a native and a highly invasive macrophyte. The samples were taken in a reservoir in Brazil (22° 33′ S, 52°54′ W). We collected invertebrates and fishes simultaneously in macrophyte stands dominated by the invasive Poaceae Urochloa arrecta and the native Eichhornia azurea. We evaluated the foraging efficiency by the total number of prey consumed and by the degree of stomach fullness. We used an approach based on resampling procedures to compare differences in composition of invertebrates, composition of fish diet, and the similarity between invertebrates and fish diet. The abundance of invertebrates and the diet composition differed significantly between plants. On the other hand, fish foraging efficiency did not differ between macrophytes. Despite this lack of difference of foraging efficiency, the lower abundance of food items in the invasive macrophyte and the significant changes in fish diet suggest that U. arrecta is not a favorable feeding habitat for fishes, compared to the native E. azurea.