Round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) in the diet of great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo): the role of the season and temperature

Round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is invasive species, present in the Elbe river since 2015. This study The purpose of this study was to find out how piscivorous predators have adapted to its presence, using the example of the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). The research was carried out on the basis of the analysis of cormorant's pellets, collected at a locality near Velké Březno (50ř40ʹ34.2ʹʹ N, 14ř07ʹ28.5ʹʹ E) under roosting trees in the period from 1 October 2020 to 15 April 2021, during a total of 7 visits. A total of 1,775 pieces of fish, 15 species belonging to 5 families, were determined from the diagnostic bones. Of this number, 1,115 were round gobies, i.e. a total of 62.8 % of the cormorant's food consisted of these fish. However, the weight share of the total reconstructed weight of all fish caught (113.6 kg) was only very small - 6.6 %. The mean daily food intake (DFI ± S.D.) of cormorants was determined to be 423.7 ± 113.6 g. It was found that cormorants hunting only round gobies overwhelmingly do not consume the necessary prey weight to cover their energy expenditure. Furthermore, the dependence of the size of the hunted prey on the average daily temperature was tested. Linear regression did not show any significant dependence in this case. The hypothesis that at lower...