Predation by introduced fish can magnify the terrestrial arthropod subsidies in mountain lakes

A portion of the terrestrial subsidies to lentic habitats consists of arthropods. In high mountain, originally fishless lakes, terrestrial arthropods are an important seasonal food resource for introduced fish. Here we investigate how brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) can alter the input of terres...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of fisheries and aquatic sciences 2018-09, Vol.75 (9), p.1453-1464
Main Authors: Rolla, Matteo, Biffoni, Geordie, Brighenti, Stefano, Iacobuzio, Rocco, Liautaud, Kevin, Pasquaretta, Cristian, Tiberti, Rocco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arthropoda
Arthropods
Biomass
Case studies
Conservation
Constituents
Ecological research
Environmental aspects
Eradication
Feeding
Fish
Fishes
Food
Food chains
Food consumption
Food resources
Foods
Freshwater
Freshwater lakes
Habitats
Introduced animals
Introduced fish
Introduced species
Lakes
Modelling
Mountain lakes
Mountains
Natural history
Predation
Predation (Biology)
Predator prey relations
Predators
Restocking
Salvelinus fontinalis
Studies
Subsidies
Surface tension
Terrestrial environments
Transplantation
Trout
Water column
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A portion of the terrestrial subsidies to lentic habitats consists of arthropods. In high mountain, originally fishless lakes, terrestrial arthropods are an important seasonal food resource for introduced fish. Here we investigate how brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) can alter the input of terrestrial arthropods in 10 high mountain lakes contrasting for their stocking history (with and without fish or manipulated for fish eradication). We used a food consumption model to calculate the minimum and maximum number or biomass of arthropods consumed by fish, and we found that they can exceed, by several folds, the number or biomass of arthropods sinking into the lakes, at least under the metabolic rates expected for fish for most of the summer. We interpret this result as an indirect indication that arthropods usually cannot overcome the surface tension at the lake surface and that fish can work as a vector across the water–air interface. We infer that pathways for dead and live arthropods to leave the lakes do exist and fish can transfer into the water column many arthropods whose fate was leaving the lakes, which may have overlooked ecological and conservation implications.
ISSN:0706-652X
1205-7533
DOI:10.1139/cjfas-2017-0121