Resumen del producto

Tunas are highly specialized predators that have evolved numerous adaptations for alifestyle that requires large amounts of energy consumption. Here we review ourunderstanding of the bioenergetics and feeding dynamics of tunas on a global scale with an emphasis on yellowfin, bigeye, skipjack, albacore, and Atlantic bluefin tunas.Food consumption balances bioenergetics expenditures for respiration, growth(including gonad production), specific dynamic action, egestion, and excretion. Tunasfeed across the micronekton and some large zooplankton. Some tunas appear to timetheir life history to take advantage of ephemeral aggregations of crustacean, fish, andmolluscan prey. Ontogenetic and spatial diet differences are substantial, and significantinterdecadal changes in prey composition have been observed. Diet shifts fromlarger to smaller prey taxa highlight ecosystem-wide changes in prey availability anddiversity and provide implications for changing bioenergetics requirements into thefuture. Where tunas overlap, we show evidence of niche separation between them;resources are divided largely by differences in diet percentages and size ranges of preytaxa. The lack of long-term data limits the ability to predict impacts of climate changeon tuna feeding behaviour. We note the need for systematic collection of feeding dataas part of routine monitoring of these species, and we highlight the advantages ofusing biochemical techniques for broad-scale analyses of trophic relations. We supportthe continued development of ecosystem models, which all too often lack theregional-specific trophic data needed to adequately investigate climate and fishingimpacts.

Palabras clave: Tunas; Bioenergetics; Trophic ecology; Predator–prey; Niche separation; Stable isotope ecology; Climate change; Pelagic; Food webs

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