What is it about?
We experimentally tested the potential use of artificial substrate, plastic bottles for egg deposition of non-native pumpkinseed sunfish, Lepomis gibbosus L. in a former sand-pit lake. The study was carried out during the pumpkinseed breeding season.
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Photo by Salomé Guruli on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Pumpkinseeds actively used the artificial substrate for nesting and the average use of each bottle was 2.3 times. The results showed that the choice of the artificial substrate was neither associated with the type of bottom substrate, nor the remaining environmental traits that were studied. However, the use of artificial substrate has made a significant contribution to the total number of nests only on sites with “unsuitable” habitat parameters. These results show that waste products can seriously facilitate pumpkinseed’s abundance.
Perspectives
We hope that the results of this study will contribute to the development of measures to reduce the invasive distribution of this species of fish.
Eliza Uzunova
Sofia University "St.Kliment Ohridski"
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A field study on using artificial substrate for nesting of introduced pumpkinseed sunfish, Lepomis gibbosus (Linnaeus, 1758), Animal Biology, January 2014, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15707563-00002433.
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