| 1. |
- Ranåker, Lynn, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of brown and turbid water on piscivore-prey fish interactions along a visibility gradient
- 2012
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - : Wiley. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; 57, s. 1761-1768
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. Environmental changes such as eutrophication and increasing inputs of humic matter (brownification) may have strong effects on predatorprey interactions in lakes through a reduction in the visual conditions affecting foraging behaviour of visually oriented predators. 2. In this experiment, we studied the effects of visual range (25200 cm) in combination with optically deteriorating treatments (algae, clay or brown humic water) on predatorprey interactions between pike (Esox lucius) and roach (Rutilus rutilus). We measured effects on reaction distance and strike distance for pike and escape distance for roach, when pike individuals were exposed to free-swimming roach as well as to roach held in a glass cylinder. 3. We found that reaction distance decreased with decreasing visual range caused by increasing levels of algae, clay or humic matter. The effect of reaction distance was stronger in turbid water (clay, algae) than in the brown water treatment. 4. Strike distance was neither affected by visual range nor by optical treatment, but we found shorter strike distances when pike attacked roach using visual cues only (roach held in a cylinder) compared to when pike could use multiple senses (free-swimming roach). Escape distance for roach was longer in turbid than in brown water treatments. 5. Changes in environmental drivers, such as eutrophication and brownification, affecting the optical climate should thus have consequences for the strength of predatorprey interactions through changes in piscivore foraging efficiency and prey escape behaviour. This in turn may affect lake ecosystems through higher-order interactions.
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| 2. |
- Setzer, Malin, et al.
(författare)
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An invasive crayfish affects egg survival and the potential recovery of an endangered population of Arctic charr
- 2011
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; :56, s. 2543-2553
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. Many fish stocks have declined, because of overharvesting, habitat destruction and introduced species. Despite efforts to rehabilitate some of these stocks, not all are responding or are recovering only slowly.2. In freshwater systems, introduced crayfish are often problematic, and it has been suggested that their egg predation could reduce recruitment in depleted stocks of native fish.3. Here, we report the results of a field experiment, using experimental cages, on the extent of predation on eggs of great Arctic charr (Salvelinus umbla) in Lake Vättern, Europe’s fifth largest lake. Here, the great Arctic charr has declined dramatically and is listed as critically endangered.4. We were able to partition the total loss rate of eggs into background mortality, predation by introduced signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) and predation by native fish. The mortality rate of charr eggs because of crayfish was estimated at more than five times that because of native fish. Of the total loss of eggs, 80% is believed to be caused by crayfish and 14% by fish, with 6% being natural background mortality.5. In a worst case scenario, our data infer that only 25% of the original number of eggs would survive, compared with 75% in the absence of crayfish. This could impair recovery of the stock of the endangered great Arctic charr in Lake Vättern.6. Contrary to earlier claims that crayfish predation on eggs of great Arctic charr is insignificant, our results indicate that crayfish predation may exceed fish predation and suggest that the abundance of signal crayfish on the spawning sites of great Arctic charr should be managed.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Arthington, Angela H, et al.
(författare)
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Preserving the biodiversity and ecological services of rivers : new challenges and research opportunities
- 2010
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - : Wiley. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; 55:1, s. 1-16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Natural biogeochemical processes and diverse communities of aquatic biota regulate freshwater quantity and quality in ways that are not sufficiently acknowledged nor appreciated by the water resources management community. The establishment and enforcement of environmental flow requirements offer promising means to improve and care for these critical environmental services. This Special Issue provides new insights and novel techniques to determine, protect and restore ecologically and socially sustainable flow regimes, and thereby help achieve the water-related goals of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.Whilst alteration of flow, sediment, organic matter and thermal regimes interact to reduce biological diversity and the ecological integrity of freshwater ecosystems - and thereby degrade the properties and ecological services most valued by humans - ‘environmental flows' left in rivers, or restored to developed rivers, will sustain many ecological and societal values. The success of river protection and rehabilitation ⁄ restoration depends upon understanding and accurately modelling relationships between hydrological patterns, fluvial disturbance and ecological responses in rivers and floodplains.This Special Issue presents new analytical and modelling approaches to support the development of hydro-ecological models and environmental flow standards at multiple spatial scales - applicable to all rivers in any economic and societal setting. Examples include the new framework Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) founded on hydrological classification and gradient analysis; ecological trait analysis; Bayesian hierarchical modelling; Bayesian Decision Networks; and Integrated Basin Flow Assessment (IBFA).Advances in the allocation of flood flows along the River Murray in Australia, an Ecosystems Function Model (HEC-EFM) for the Bill Williams River restoration programme in Arizona (U.S.A), the European Water Framework Directive, and improved management of hydroelectric dams demonstrate the potential for significant ecological recovery following partial restoration of natural river flow regimes.Based on contributions to this Special Issue, the action agenda of the 2007 Brisbane Declaration on environmental flows and the wider literature, we propose an invigorated global research programme to construct and calibrate hydro-ecological models and to quantify the ecological goods and services provided by rivers in contrasting hydro-climatic settings across the globe. A major challenge will be to find acceptable ways to manage rivers for multiple uses. Climate change intensifies the urgency. Environmental flows help to preserve the innate resilience of aquatic ecosystems, and thereby offer the promise of improved sustainability and wellbeing for people as well as for ecosystems.
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| 5. |
- Bejarano, Maria Dolores, et al.
(författare)
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Responses of riparian trees and shrubs to flow regulationalong a boreal stream in northern Sweden
- 2011
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - : Wiley. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; 56:5, s. 853-866
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. Flow dynamics is a major determinant of riparian plant communities. Therefore, flowregulation may heavily affect riparian ecosystems. Despite the large number of damsworldwide, little specific information is available on the longitudinal impacts of dams onvegetation, for example how far downstream and at what degree of regulation a dam on ariver can influence riparian woodlands.2. We quantified the long-term responses of riparian trees and shrubs to flow regulation byidentifying their lateral distribution and habitat conditions along a boreal river in northernSweden that has been regulated by a single dam since 1948. The regulation has reducedannual flow fluctuations, this effect being largest at the dam, downstream from which itprogressively decreases following the entrance of free-flowing tributaries.3. We related changes in the distribution patterns, composition, abundance and richness oftree and shrub species to the degree of regulation along the river downstream from thedam. Regulation has triggered establishment of trees and shrubs closer to the channel,making it possible to measure ecological impacts of flow regulation as differences invegetation attributes relative to the positions of tree and shrub communities establishedbefore and after regulation.4. Trees and shrubs had migrated towards the mid-channel along the entire study reach,but the changes were largest immediately downstream of the dam. Shrubs were mostimpacted by flow regulation in terms of lateral movement, but the effect on trees extendedfurthest downstream.5. The species composition of trees progressively returned to its pre-regulation state withdistance downstream, but entrance of free-flowing tributaries and variation in channelmorphology and substratum caused local deviations. Species richness after regulationincreased for trees but decreased for shrubs. The changes in species composition andrichness of trees and shrubs showed no clear downstream patterns, suggesting that otherfactors than the degree of regulation were more important in governing life form.
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| 6. |
- Beven, Keith J., et al.
(författare)
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Modelling everything everywhere : a new approach to decision-making for water management under uncertainty
- 2012
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - : Wiley. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; 57, s. 124-132
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. There are increasing demands to predict ecohydrological responses to future changes in catchments but such predictions will be inevitably uncertain because of natural variability and different sources of knowledge (epistemic) uncertainty. 2. Policy setting and decision-making should therefore reflect these inherent uncertainties in both model predictions and potential consequences. 3. This is the focus of a U.K. Natural Environment Research Council knowledge exchange project called the Catchment Change Network (CCN). The aim is to bring academics and practitioners together to define Guidelines for Good Practice in incorporating risk and uncertainty into assessments of the impacts of change. 4. Here, we assess the development of such Guidelines in the context of having catchment models of everywhere.
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| 7. |
- Birk, Sebastian
(författare)
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Harmonising the bioassessment of large rivers in the absence of near-natural reference conditions - a case study of the Danube River
- 2012
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - : Wiley. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; 57, s. 1716-1732
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. International river catchments pose challenges for effective water resource management. Catchment-wide strategies are often complicated by differences in national bioassessment and quality classification. Intercalibration efforts aim to harmonise these differences, but rely on the consistent delineation of near-natural reference sites that are almost unavailable in todays landscape, especially for large rivers. 2. We introduce the concept of alternative benchmarking that is based on the notion of aquatic communities at similar (low) levels of impairment associated with least-disturbed conditions (LDC) as defined by abiotic criteria. Using data acquired during the second Joint Danube Survey, we defined LDC sites based on a multivariate gradient of anthropogenic pressures, mostly related to morphological deterioration, that spans the entire navigable Danube. 3. The river was subdivided into four stretches, each featuring homogeneous biological assemblages. Indirect gradient analysis revealed relationships between the pressure gradient and selected features of the macroinvertebrate and macrophyte community but not for diatoms or phytoplankton. 4. We identified biological metrics suitable for the quality classification of individual stretches or the entire river. Impoundment is the major hydromorphological alteration on the Danube but various metrics still responded significantly to differences in the morphological condition of sites not affected by impoundment. 5. A comparison of macroinvertebrate sampling techniques (airlift versus kick-and-sweep) revealed differences in how the acquired data reflect the effects of anthropogenic pressure. Biological metrics based only on kick-and-sweep sample data were insensitive to habitat deterioration in the heavily modified Upper Danube. 6. This study exemplifies the empirical approach of alternative benchmarking in intercalibration and offers practical solutions to some of the challenges of large river bioassessment.
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| 8. |
- Byström, Pär, et al.
(författare)
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Ontogenetic constraints and diet shifts in Perch (Perca fluviatilis) : mechanisms and consequences for intra-cohort cannibalism
- 2012
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - : Wiley. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; 57:4, s. 847-857
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. In many populations, sufficient size variation to allow for cannibalism may develop not only among age cohorts but also within them. Here, we used data on resource dynamics, consumer body size distribution and gape size limitation to unravel mechanisms promoting cannibalism within cohorts of young-of-the-year (YOY) perch (Perca fluviatilis). 2. Perch are strongly gape limited when feeding on large zooplankton during early ontogeny. As a consequence, only initially large fish were able to shift to feeding on abundant large invertebrates, necessary to sustain fast growth. 3. We suggest that a combination of high initial size variation and exclusive access to resources for individuals with an initial size advantage is a prerequisite for the development of a size distribution sufficient for intra-cohort cannibalism to occur. 4. During the time when cannibalism was observed, growth of the largest individuals in YOY perch cohorts was faster than that of smaller individuals. However, the energy gain from cannibalism did not increase growth rate enough to reach a size necessary to feed on more abundant size classes of victims, and therefore, the effect of cannibalism on overall cohort density was minor. 5. In addition to a high energy gain from cannibalism allowing for fast growth, strong resource limitation and slow growth rates of small individuals (i.e. potential victims) are a prerequisite not only for the development of intra-cohort cannibalism but also for its persistence.
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| 9. |
- Dessborn, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Pike predation affects breeding success and habitat selection of ducks
- 2011
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - : Wiley. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; 56:3, s. 579-589
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. Fish and ducks often belong to the same local food web, and several studies indicate that there is a general negative effect of fish on breeding ducks. This pattern has so far been addressed mainly within the framework of competition for common invertebrate prey, while predation by large fish as a force behind settlement and abundance patterns in ducks remains largely unknown. This is the first study to address the effect of fish predation on breeding ducks, isolated from that of competition, and the first experiment to explore the ability of ducks to identify and avoid lakes with high risk of fish predation.2. We used a before–after control–impact design and 11 naturally fishless lakes. Waterfowl on the lakes were surveyed during the breeding season of 2005. Large adult pike (Esox lucius) were added to two lakes in early spring 2008, and waterfowl surveys were repeated on all 11 lakes.3. Pike introduction did not affect the number of pairs on lakes during the nesting season in any of three focal duck species (mallard Anas platyrhynchos, teal Anas crecca, and goldeneye Bucephala clangula). During the brood-rearing season, however, there was a decrease in duck days in teal and goldeneye in lakes with pike, with similar trends observed in mallard. The number of goldeneye ducklings was also significantly lower in lakes with pike. We were unable to determine whether the response was attributable to direct pike predation or to broods leaving experimental lakes, but in either case, our study demonstrates high fitness costs for ducks breeding on lakes with pike.4. The apparent inability of nesting ducks to detect pike and the clear fitness implications may influence the annual recruitment of ducks on a larger scale as pike are both common and widespread. Vegetation complexity and food abundance are likely to be of overriding importance when breeding ducks are choosing a nesting site. As pike have a strong influence on breeding birds, relying on vegetation and cues of food abundance, while ignoring indicators of predation risk from fish, could lead to lakes with pike acting as an ecological trap.
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| 10. |
- Drakare, Stina, et al.
(författare)
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Local factors control the community composition of cyanobacteria in lakes while heterotrophic bacteria follow a neutral model
- 2010
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - : Wiley. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; 55:12, s. 2447-2457
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. Neutral community models are derived from the proposition that basic probabilities of species loss (extinction, emigration) and gain (immigration, speciation) explain biological community structure, such that species with many individuals are very likely to be widespread. Niche models on the other hand assume that interactions between species and differential resource use mediate species coexistence, thus invoking environmental factors to explain community patterns. 2. In this study, we compared neutral and niche models to test how much of the spatial variability of assemblages of heterotrophic bacteria and phytoplankton in 13 lakes they could explain. Analysis of phytoplankton was restricted to cyanobacteria, so that they could be studied with the same molecular fingerprinting method, automated ribosomal intergenic spaces analysis (ARISA), as heterotrophic bacteria. We determined local biotic and abiotic lake variables as well as lake age, glacial history and distance between sites. 3. The neutral community model had a good fit to the community composition of heterotrophic bacteria (R-2 = 0.69), whereas it could not produce a significant model for the community composition of cyanobacteria. 4. The community composition of cyanobacteria was instead correlated to environmental variables. The best model, a combination of total organic carbon, biomass of eukaryotic phytoplankton, pH and conductivity, could explain 8% of the variation. In contrast, variation in the community composition of heterotrophic bacteria was not predicted by any of the environmental variables. Historical and spatial variables were not correlated to the community composition of either group. 5. The pattern found for heterotrophic bacteria suggests that stochastic processes are important. The correlation of cyanobacteria with local environmental variables alone is consistent with the niche model. We suggest that cyanobacteria, a group of organisms containing bloom-forming species, may be less likely to fit a neutral community model, since these blooms are usually triggered by a particular combination of environmental conditions.
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