Losses and recoveries of fish populations in acidified lakes of southern Finland in the last decade

Acid-induced fish damage in small lakes in southern Finland was studied in a fish status survey of eighty lakes from 1985-1987. Later, twenty of these lakes were selected for further monitoring. A sampling of these lakes from 1988-1989 showed that the decrease in some perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) an...

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Published in:Water, air and soil pollution air and soil pollution, 1995-01, Vol.85 (2), p.315-320
Main Authors: RASK, M, RAITANIEMI, J, MANNIO, J, VUORENMAA, J, NYBERG, K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acid rain
Acidification
Acids
Agnatha. Pisces
Air pollution
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Chemistry
Deposition
Ecology
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on vertebrates
Fisheries
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hydrology
Lakes
Perca fluviatilis
Pollution
Q1
Recovery
Reproduction
Rutilus rutilus
Sensitivity
Water quality
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Summary:Acid-induced fish damage in small lakes in southern Finland was studied in a fish status survey of eighty lakes from 1985-1987. Later, twenty of these lakes were selected for further monitoring. A sampling of these lakes from 1988-1989 showed that the decrease in some perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) and roach (Rutilus rutilus L.) populations still continued. The results from the same lakes in 1992 showed that successful reproduction had taken place with many of the perch populations that had been close to extinction in 1985. In contrast, no signs of recovery in the roach populations were detected. The explanation for the appearance of new cohorts of perch could have been the decrease in acid deposition but the exceptional hydrological conditions of winters in the early 1990s may also have affected them. The different responses of the perch and roach populations were interpreted as a consequence of the different sensitivity of these two species to acidification. Even a slight improvement in the water quality has resulted in the appearance of strong new year-classes of perch, but not of roach. Therefore, more improvement in water quality is needed until a sensitive species like roach can reproduce again.
ISSN:0049-6979
1573-2932
DOI:10.1007/BF00476848