Declined fitness in larvae born from long-distance migrants of anadromous <i>Coilia nasus</i> in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China

Yan-Fei Huang; Andrew L. Rypel; Brian R. Murphy; Song-Guang Xie

doi:10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2021.423

Volume 43 Issue 3

May 2022

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Article Navigation > Zoological Research > 2022 > 43(3): 404-408

Yan-Fei Huang, Andrew L. Rypel, Brian R. Murphy, Song-Guang Xie. Declined fitness in larvae born from long-distance migrants of anadromous Coilia nasus in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China. Zoological Research, 2022, 43(3): 404-408. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2021.423

Citation:

Yan-Fei Huang, Andrew L. Rypel, Brian R. Murphy, Song-Guang Xie. Declined fitness in larvae born from long-distance migrants of anadromous Coilia nasus in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China. Zoological Research, 2022, 43(3): 404-408. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2021.423

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Declined fitness in larvae born from long-distance migrants of anadromous Coilia nasus in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China

doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2021.423

1.
State Key Laboratory of Marine Resources Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan 570228, China
2.
College of Life and Environmental Science, Hunan University of Arts and Sciences, Changde, Hunan 415000, China
3.
Department of Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Biology and Center for Watershed Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis CA 95616, USA
4.
Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg VA 24061, USA

Funds: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32002394, 31570420). Andrew L. Rypel’s participation was supported by the Peter B. Moyle & California Trout Endowment for Coldwater Fish Conservation and the California Agricultural Experimental Station of the University of California Davis (CA-D-WFB-2467-H)

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail: xiesg@hainanu.edu.cn
Received Date: 2022-02-15
Accepted Date: 2022-03-31

Published Online: 2022-03-31

Publish Date: 2022-05-18

Abstract

Abstract

Anadromous Coilia nasus is a socioeconomically important species from the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Here, we compared growth and feeding of C. nasus larvae in four reaches along the full migration corridor of the river (640 km) to determine how fitness varies between progenies of short- and long-distance migrants. Results demonstrated that larvae collected in downstream sections grew faster, exhibited higher feeding intensities, and consumed larger zooplankton (a favored food resource). Our results did not support the parent-offspring trade-off theory, which predicts that the costs and benefits of migration increase with migration distance, and higher parental costs with long migration should be offset by increased offspring fitness. We suggest pervasive human impacts along the river are likely driving the observed ecological patterns. Overfishing has resulted in a truncated body size in migrants, which shortens their migration distance; isolation of floodplain lakes from the river restricts fish spawning and nursing to suboptimal lotic river habitats; and higher discharge experienced by larvae born from long-distance migrants in the upstream river reaches during the later flooding season results in declined feeding intensity and slower growth compared to those produced from short-distance migrants in the earlier season. We predict that a fishing ban in the Yangtze River will allow fish to grow larger and older so they can access floodplain lakes further upstream, which will further enhance recruitment of the C. nasus population.

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References(10)

References

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