The role of fish predators and their foraging traits in shaping zooplankton community structure.

Abstract

Differentiation of foraging traits among predator populations may help explain observed variation in the structure of prey communities. However, few studies have investigated the phenotypic effects of predators on their prey in natural communities. Here, we use a comparative analysis of 78 Greenlandic lakes to examine how foraging trait variation among threespine stickleback populations can help explain variation in zooplankton community composition among lakes. We find that landscape-scale variation in zooplankton composition was jointly explained by lake properties, such as size and water chemistry, and the presence and absence of both stickleback and arctic char. Additional variation in zooplankton community structure can be explained by stickleback jaw protrusion, a trait with known utility for foraging on zooplankton, but only in lakes where stickleback co-occur with arctic char. Overall, our results illustrate how trait variation of predators, alongside other ecosystem properties, can influence the composition of prey communities in nature.