Nonlinear relationships can lead to bias in biomass calculations and drift-foraging models when using summaries of invertebrate drift data
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Abstract
Drift-foraging models offer a mechanistic description of how fish feed in flowing water and the application of drift-foraging bioenergetics models to answer both applied and theoretical questions in aquatic ecology is growing. These models typically include nonlinear descriptions of ecological processes and as a result may be sensitive to how model inputs are summarized because of a mathematical property of nonlinear equations known as Jensen’s inequality. In particular, we show that the way in which continuous size distributions of invertebrate prey are represented within foraging models can lead to biases within the modeling process. We begin by illustrating how different equations common to drift-foraging models are sensitive to invertebrate inputs. We then use two case studies to show how different representations of invertebrate prey can influence predictions of energy intake and lifetime growth. Greater emphasis should be placed on accurate characterizations of invertebrate drift, acknowledging that inferences from drift-foraging models may be influenced by how invertebrate prey are represented.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Nonlinear relationships can lead to bias in biomass calculations and drift-foraging models when using summaries of invertebrate drift data |
| Series title | Environmental Biology of Fishes |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10641-016-0507-8 |
| Volume | 99 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Year Published | 2016 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Kluwer Academic Publishers |
| Contributing office(s) | Southwest Biological Science Center |
| Description | 12 p. |
| First page | 659 |
| Last page | 670 |
| Online Only (Y/N) | N |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |