Presence or absence of fish as a cue to macroinvertebrate abundance in boreal wetlands

Waterfowl that eat macroinvertebrates must select among potential nesting or brood-rearing habitats that may vary in food abundance over the season. We compared the reliability of predicting the relative abundance of macroinvertebrates in boreal wetlands using either the number of macroinvertebrates...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hydrobiologia 1994-04, Vol.279-280 (1), p.345-351
Main Authors: Mallory, Mark L., Blancher, Peter J., Weatherhead, Patrick J., McNicol, Donald K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Freshwater
Invertebrata
Pisces
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Summary:Waterfowl that eat macroinvertebrates must select among potential nesting or brood-rearing habitats that may vary in food abundance over the season. We compared the reliability of predicting the relative abundance of macroinvertebrates in boreal wetlands using either the number of macroinvertebrates collected at one sampling period, or presence or absence of fish. Wetlands with fish had fewer macroinvertebrates than fishless wetlands in all five sampling periods. Predictions of the relative abundance of invertebrates in a wetland at other sampling periods based on the presence or absence of fish, were equal to or better than predictions based on the actual number of macroinvertebrates collected during one sampling period. These results suggest that fish status of a wetland is a reliable cue to invertebrate abundance in boreal wetlands.
ISSN:0018-8158
1573-5117
DOI:10.1007/BF00027866