Plasticity in feeding selectivity and trophic structure of kelp forest associated fishes from northern Chile Plasticidad en la selección de alimento y estructura trófica de los peces asociados a bosques de macroalgas pardas del norte de Chile

One of the primary ways in which species interact with their environment is through foraging; thereby directly consuming some fraction of their surrounding habitat. The habitat itself, in turn, may dictate the types of foraging opportunities that are available to the inhabitants. To investigate the relationship between habitat availability and diet composition of habitat-associated fishes, we estimated the relative abundance of the potential sessile and mobile prey items and the diet of the fish species assemblage associated to kelp forest. Specifically, diet and feeding selectivity of the kelp-forest associated fish assemblage were determined by calculating Manly's alpha selectivity index. We determined the diet of kelp forest associated fishes and their foraging behavior by comparing prey availability with those items present in the stomachs of fishes captured by gill net and spear gun. We calculated the degree of dietary overlap among fishes from four locations along the northern coast of Chile. Results indicate that utilization of prey by predators is predominantly affected by potential prey availability. With the exception of the two carnivorous species such as Pinguipes chilensis (Valenciennes, 1883) and Paralabrax humeralis (Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1828), whose diet did not change among sites, all other kelp-associated fishes changed their dietary habitats to consistent with the availability of local resources. Benthic resources changed among the different study sites, which led to differing diets even in the same species from different locations. Eleven of the 12 kelp forest fishes also showed some selectively for benthic prey. We conclude that the ability of fishes to be plastic in their feeding preference and, therefore, partition the benthic resources may set adaptations to co-exist in a dynamic environment such as kelp forest. Una de las principales formas en que las especies interactúan con su medio ambiente es a través de la alimentación, consumiendo directamente una fracción de los componentes del hábitat circundante. El propio hábitat, a su vez, puede determinar la conducta de forrajeo y los tipos de alimentación de sus depredadores. Para investigar la relación entre la disponibilidad de alimento y la composición de la dieta de los peces asociados a hábitat dominados por macroalgas pardas, se estimó la abundancia de las presas potenciales tanto especies sésiles como móviles y se comparó con la dieta de las especies de los peces en cuatro diferentes sitios de la costa del norte de Chile. Se determinó la dieta de los peces y su plasticidad a