Fish–prey interactions in, and associated data from, a temperate stream of the Yura River, Kyoto, Japan

Abstract

AbstractAlthough quantitative data on interspecific interactions within complex food webs are essential for evaluation of assumptions, hypotheses, and predictions of ecological theories; empirical studies yielding quantitative data on complex food webs are very limited. Ecological information on body size, habitat use, and seasonality of the component species of food webs aids in determining the mechanisms of food web structures. Ideally, ecological information on component species should be obtained contemporaneously when used to describe quantitative food webs, but such observations and sampling strategies are labor intensive and thus have been rarely described. We conducted year‐round samplings of, and performed observations on, a temperate stream: the upper reaches of the Yura River, Kyoto, Japan. We derived quantitative data on the abundance, biomass, body mass, microhabitat use, and those seasonality of 7 fish species and 167 invertebrate taxa of the temperate stream food web. In addition, we estimated the per mass consumption rates of 7 predatory fish species, consuming 183 prey invertebrates, and the ratios between the per mass consumption rates of the 7 predatory fish species and the production rates of 78 prey invertebrates in each trophic link. All fishes and aquatic invertebrates were identified to species or lowest possible taxon. Our data may contribute to the construction of mathematical models explaining the behavior of stream communities/ecosystems.