Effects of drift- and benthic-foraging fish on the drift dispersal of three species of mayfly nymphs in a Japanese stream

Abstract

Differences in the effects of two common predatory fishes, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and freshwater sculpin (Cottus nozawae), on drift dispersal of the nymphs of three mayfly species, Baetis thermicus, Cinygmula sp., and Paraleptophlebia chocorata, were examined by manipulative field experiments using stream enclosures in a northern Japanese stream. The diel periodicity of prey consumption rate differed considerably between the two fishes; the prey consumption of the drift-foraging trout was greater at both dawn and dusk, whereas the benthic-foraging sculpin showed a higher consumption rate at night. The drift propensity at night was much greater than during the day for all the mayfly species in each of the trout, sculpin and fishless treatments, as well as under natural conditions with both fishes present. The nighttime drift propensities of the epibenthic grazers, B. thermicus and Cinygmula sp., were greater in the sculpin treatment than in trout and fishless treatments, and they did not differ between the trout and fishless treatments. By contrast, the nighttime drift propensity of P. chocorata, an infaunal collector-gatherer, did not differ among the treatments. The daytime drift propensity did not differ among the treatments for any of the mayfly species. Thus differences in drift response to the predatory fishes could be related to the characteristic microhabitats of the mayfly species. Moreover, the experiments demonstrated that benthic-foraging sculpin had greater overall effects on prey drift than drift-foraging trout.