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1. Marine and Freshwater Energy Density Data Integrated and Organized by Taxonomy from Previous Research Sources (1961 through June 2024) Discovered by a Literature Review

   https://doi.org/10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.948253.1  

   Hermann, Nathan T; Wuenschel, Mark J; Furey, Nathan B (January 2025, Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO))

   Energy is the currency of exchange within ecosystems which defines the strength and influence of interactions, particularly between predator and prey. The ability to estimate the productivity of an ecosystem is, therefore, dependent upon the estimation of consumer diet contents and their energetic quality. To estimate growth, reproduction, and, ultimately, survival of individuals, measures of prey quality for predators are essential both at the individual level and for scaling to ecosystem-wide fluxes and pools. Among measures of prey quality, energy density (kiloJoules per gram; kJ/g) is the most used in ecology. Considerable efforts have established estimates of energy densities for many aquatic taxa. However, a database of aquatic organism energetics constructed by integrating and organizing across multiple sources spawning marine and freshwater habitats across the globe is needed to add both depth (more samples to measure within-taxa variation) and breadth (more taxa). To generate a comprehensive energy density database of aquatic organisms, we performed a multifaceted review to find sources from the peer-reviewed and grey literature with a broad search on Web of Science, from citations of related literature, and a haphazard recommendation from experts. Estimates of energy density of whole organism live weights (kJ/g wet weight) were prioritized to better relate to diet and energetics studies. When energy density was only provided per gram dry weight, the dry weight and percentage water was used to calculate energy density per gram wet weight. Sub-organism (i.e. tissue specific) energy density estimates are included (e.g. muscle, liver, egg) when only these were reported. A total of 3810 records are included from 134 sources, covering 2016 unique taxa, of which 1771 (87.76%) are identified at the species level. Species or taxa-specific energy densities ranged from 0.015 to 17.949 kJ/g wet weight (WW) with a mean ± SD = 4.509 ± 1.94 kJ/g WW and median = 4.225 kJ/g WW. Among those phyla with more than three species (n phyla = 9), chordates (n taxa = 1283) had the highest average energy density (mean ± SD; 4.92 ± 1.90; 0.162 – 17.9 kJ/g WW) and ctenophores (n taxa = 4) had the lowest average (0.0988 ± 0.074; 0.03 to 0.205 kJ/g WW). Each record includes the organism taxonomy to the lowest resolution listed in the original source, energetic data available from the source including body composition and energy density data, number of replicates and methodology for measuring energetics information--primarily split between bomb calorimetry and proximate composition--as well as the source’s author(s), year, and publication. Additional meta-data are included whenever possible based on details from the original source including the 1) environmental features: area, method, and timing of capture; 2) methodological features: storage method, storage duration, and tissue type measured; and 3) organismal features: weight, length, and sex; as well as any additional notes about the source. This comprehensive database integrates those data discoverable by our search and which met inclusion criteria identified above in a taxonomic and spatial organization framework to facilitate modeling trophic interactions, bioenergetics, growth, productivity, and energy fluxes through marine and freshwater ecosystems. 

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2. Harnessing a mesopelagic predator as a biological sampler reveals taxonomic and vertical resource partitioning among three poorly known deep-sea fishes

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41298-9  

   Portner, Elan J.; Mowatt-Larssen, Tor; Carretero, Alejandro Cano-Lasso; Contreras, Emily A.; Woodworth-Jefcoats, Phoebe A.; Frable, Benjamin W.; Choy, C. Anela (September 2023, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract Pelagic predators are effective biological samplers of midtrophic taxa and are especially useful in deep-sea habitats where relatively mobile taxa frequently avoid observation with conventional methods. We examined specimens sampled from the stomachs of longnose lancetfish,Alepisaurus ferox, to describe the diets and foraging behaviors of three common, but poorly known deep-sea fishes: the hammerjaw (Omosudis lowii, n = 79, 0.3–92 g), juvenile common fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta, n = 91, 0.6–22 g), and juvenileAl. ferox(n = 138, 0.3–744 g). Diet overlap among the three species was high, with five shared prey families accounting for 63 ± 11% of the total prey mass per species. However, distinct differences in foraging strategies and prey sizes were evident. Resource partitioning was greatest betweenAn. cornutathat specialized on small (mean = 0.13 ± 0.11 g), shallow-living hyperiid amphipods andO. lowiithat specialized on large (mean = 0.97 ± 0.45 g), deep-dwelling hatchetfishes. JuvenileAl. feroxforaged on a high diversity of prey from both shallow and deep habitats. We describe the foraging ecologies of three midtrophic fish competitors and demonstrate the potential for biological samplers to improve our understanding of deep-sea food webs. 

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3. ITS rDNA Barcodes Clarify Molecular Diversity of Aquatic Hyphomycetes

   https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10081569  

   Franco-Duarte, Ricardo; Fernandes, Isabel; Gulis, Vladislav; Cássio, Fernanda; Pascoal, Cláudia (August 2022, Microorganisms)

   Aquatic hyphomycetes are key microbial decomposers of allochthonous organic matter in freshwater ecosystems. Although their importance in carbon flow and food webs in streams is widely recognized, there are still gaps in our understanding of their molecular diversity and distribution patterns. Our study utilized the growing database of ITS rDNA barcodes of aquatic hyphomycetes (1252 sequences) and aimed to (i) produce new barcodes for some lesser-known taxa; (ii) clarify the taxonomic placement of some taxa at the class or order level, based on molecular data; and (iii) provide insights into the biogeographical origins of some taxa. This study increased the number of aquatic hyphomycete species with available ITS barcodes from 119 (out of ~300 species described) to 136. Phylogenetically, the 136 species were distributed between 2 phyla, 6 classes, and 10 orders of fungi. Future studies should strive to increase the database of ITS sequences, especially focusing on species with unclear phylogenetic relationships (incertae sedis) and with few sequences available. The geographical distribution of species with available ITS sequences included 50 countries from five continents, but 6 countries had more than 20 species associated, showing a bias toward the northern hemisphere, likely due to sampling bias. 

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4. Mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) caloric value analysis from various collections along Rowley River tidal creeks associated with long term fertilization experiments, Rowley, MA.

   https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/a9c49adfceb9c80d1b4492e881281354  

   Deegan, Linda; Nelson, James (January 2022, Environmental Data Initiative)

   At PIE, mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) use the spring-cycle high tides to access the flooded high marsh platform and eat invertebrate prey, coupling the high marsh and aquatic creek food webs by gathering energy produced on the high marsh and making it available to the aquatic food web. Changes in the geomorphology of saltmarsh creek edges greatly influence the survival, biomass, and resource use of mummichog populations. Here, we use bomb calorimetry to assess individual mummichog caloric content per gram of biomass at 4 PIE creeks known to present different geomorphologic patterns in their low marsh zones. These data can be used for the assessment of the impact of low marsh geomorphology on mummichog caloric content and energy production in PIE food webs. These data were included as part of two studies “Habitat decoupling via saltmarsh creek geomorphology alters connection between spatially-coupled food webs” (Lesser et al. 2020) and “Cross-habitat access modifies the ‘trophic relay’ in New England saltmarsh ecosystems” (Lesser et al. 2021). 

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5. Gelatinous cephalopods as important prey for a deep-sea fish predator

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-022-04116-w  

   Chen, Rachel S.; Portner, Elan J.; Choy, C. Anela (November 2022, Marine Biology)

   Abstract We quantified cephalopods consumed by longnose lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox,n = 1267 stomachs containing cephalopod remains) from 2009 to 2018 in the central North Pacific Ocean (between 0–35° N and 135–175° W). When cephalopods identified from beak remains in the stomach contents were included in diet analyses, clear increases in the abundance of gelatinous taxa and the inferred foraging depths of lancetfish were evident. Ontogeny in cephalopod consumption was evident for lancetfish, corroborating past diet studies. Small lancetfish (fork length < 97 cm) fed on smaller, muscular cephalopods from shallow habitats (0–500 m, e.g., Ommastrephidae, Onychoteuthidae), while large lancetfish (fork length ≥ 97 cm) consumed larger, gelatinous cephalopods from deeper waters (depths greater than 500 m, e.g., Amphitretidae, Cranchiidae). Cephalopod beaks were more abundant in the diets of large lancetfish, representing 37.8% of identified cephalopods, numerically. Although beaks likely remain in stomachs longer than soft tissues, they did not simply accumulate with increasing predator size. Cephalopods identified from beaks were also significantly larger than those identified from soft tissues. Despite having low average energy densities, large gelatinous cephalopods are important prey for lancetfish in deep habitats, with energetic values that are comparable to smaller, more muscular cephalopods (95.3 ± 125.8 kJ and 120.2 ± 169.4 kJ, respectively). Holistic consideration of cephalopod beaks in diet analyses will help to elucidate predator foraging behaviors and the trophic and ecological roles of gelatinous cephalopods in deep pelagic food webs. 

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