Advancing knowledge of striped shrimp (Pandalus montagui) feeding biology and ecology in the northwest Atlantic
Perrin, N. (2025). Advancing knowledge of striped shrimp (Pandalus montagui) feeding biology and ecology in the northwest Atlantic. MSc Thesis. Department of Ocean Sciences, Faculty of Science Memorial University of Newfoundland: St. John’s. 125 pp.
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Documenttype: Doctoraat/Thesis/Eindwerk
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| Abstract |
Climate change impacts on marine ecosystems and species underscore the importance of understanding species characteristics to predict future change, particularly for commercial species. This study advances biological and ecological knowledge of striped shrimp (Pandalus montagui) in the commercially important northern shrimp fishery in the northwest Atlantic. Stomach content metabarcoding resolved the general diet of striped shrimp, revealing dominance of fish in stomachs and implicating scavenging behaviour. Investigation of drivers of diet variation suggested opportunistic feeding with prey availability driving diet composition. Abundance performance curves that characterized environments of maximum striped shrimp and northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) performance at regional scales (100s of kms) across the fishery described a comparatively cooler and shallower niche of striped shrimp. Generalized additive models (GAMs) indicated that large-scale climate drivers (North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and sea surface temperature (SST)) were poor predictors of abundances, which related strongly to in situ temperature for both species. Thermal niche stationarity through time underpinned predictions of widespread abundance declines given forecasted ocean warming. This research attests to the importance of scale in assessing and managing striped shrimp, its important ecosystem roles, and its fishery contributions |
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