Symposium Summary: Gutshop 2015: New Perspectives on Feeding Ecology of Fishes

Nearly 40 years ago, Gutshop ’76 was the first symposium of its kind, and it initiated a series of “Gutshops” about best practices and advancing methods in feeding analyses, digestion and nutrition, and trophic ecology. After a 20-year hiatus, Gutshop ’15 was one of the largest symposia of the Annual Meeting in Portland, with 51 oral presentations and 16 posters. Keynote addresses by two originators of the Gutshop series, Charles (Si) Simenstad and Greg Cailliet, reflected on the history and accomplishments within the broad field of fish feeding studies. Two major themes of Gutshop ’15 were: (1) methods of quantitative fish feeding ecology, and (2) advanced techniques to examine diets (e.g., genetic, stable isotopes, and fatty acid signatures). These topics highlighted the ongoing advancement of ways to describe fish diets and novel approaches to quantify trophic interactions. Additional interests were fish physiology, growth and bioenergetics, and the use of diet data in ecosystem models and for fisheries management. The size and scope of Gutshop ‘15 demonstrates potential for future Gutshops to further promote the use of fish feeding studies in aquatic ecosystem research, fisheries assessment, and management. A peer-reviewed, symposium volume is planned with Environmental Biology of Fishes. —Richard McBride, NOAA, [email protected], and Brian Smith, NOAA, [email protected] Read the symposium abstracts here.