Ontogenetic Niche Shifts in Largemouth Bass: Variability and Consequences for First‐Year Growth

The ontogeny of many size—structured organisms is marked by a series of niche shifts that divides a population into ecologically distinct stages. Consequently, overall population dynamics are affected both by processes operating within individual stages and by factors that influence transitions between stages. In largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), there is a diet shift from littoral invertebrates to fish that typically occurs sometime in their 1st yr. I examined factors that influenced this shift by tracking diet and growth trajectories of young—of—year (YOY) bass cohorts in several Michigan lakes over 2 yr. Cohorts differed in consumption rates of invertebrate prey, which led to an early divergence in bass growth among lakes. This variation in early growth had dramatic consequences for the timing of the shift to piscivory. In lakes with rapid growth in the invertebrate feeding stage, bass were able to gain a size advantage over YOY bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), their primary fish prey, which facilitated a shift to piscivory as soon as these bluegill became available as food. In contrast, slow growth during the invertebrate feeding stage reduced the size advantage of bass over bluegill and delayed or even prevented the shift to piscivory in the 1st yr. Niche shifts in bass were also sensitive to environmental conditions early in the growing season. In 1992, low temperatures caused a reduction in growth rates that prevented the establishment of a size advantage over bluegill in all but one lake. Bass grew much faster after switching to piscivory; thus the shift from invertebrates to fish strongly influenced sizes attained by YOY bass by autumn. Because survivorship of YOY bass is strongly size dependent (particularly through the first winter), the timing of the shift to piscivory may be important in determining survival and recruitment rates. Therefore, processes that operate on bass in the invertebrate feeding stage can influence the shift to piscivory, and this can potentially have important effects on the dynamics of the population as a whole.