What makes a habitat a home? Habitat associations of juvenile European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, in estuarine nurseries

Freeman, Howard, Hepburn, Leanne, Taylor, Martin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3858-0712, Hunter, Ewan, Dumbrell, Alex J., Gregson, Benjamin, Smith, Albert, Lamphierre, Aaron and Cameron, Tom (2024) What makes a habitat a home? Habitat associations of juvenile European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, in estuarine nurseries. Journal of Fish Biology, 105 (2). pp. 539-556. ISSN 0022-1112

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Abstract

Selection of nursery habitats by marine fish, such as European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), is poorly understood. Identifying and protecting the full range of juvenile nursery habitats is vital to supporting resilient fish populations and economically important fisheries. We examined how the condition, stomach fullness, and diet of juvenile European sea bass, along with their abundance, differ at high or low tide between the following estuarine habitats: saltmarsh, oyster reefs, shingle, sand, and mud edge habitats. Using a combination of fyke and seine netting we found no difference in sea bass abundance or condition across high-tide habitats, suggesting that rather than differentially selecting between them, juvenile sea bass use all available shallow habitats at high tide. Stomach fullness was significantly higher on saltmarsh and sand compared to mud, and thus these habitats may support better foraging. Dietary DNA metabarcoding revealed that sand and saltmarsh diets mostly comprised Hediste polychaetes, whereas zooplanktonic taxa dominated diets over mud. At low tide, sea bass abundance was highest in shingle and oyster reefs, where stomach fullness and condition were lowest. This may indicate a potential trade-off between using habitats for foraging and refuge. Although sea bass abundance alone does not capture productivity, the high abundance across all estuarine habitats at high tide suggests that it is important to consider the protection of a mosaic of interconnected habitats to support nursery functions rather than focus on individual habitat types.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Special Issue: Fisheries Society of the British Isles Annual Symposium 2023 “Fish habitat ecology in a changing climate” Funding information: Funding was provided by ARIES (formerly Environment East) through the ARIES doctoral training partnership, in partnership with the Center for Environmental, Fisheries, and Agricultural Sciences (CEFAS), grant number NE/L002582/1, grant title Environment East (EnvEast) Doctoral Training Partnership. HF received funding through a Cefas Seedcorn grant, grant number DP901P.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 14 - life below water ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	01 Nov 2024 09:30
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2024 00:54
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/97407
DOI:	10.1111/jfb.15791

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