Environmental effects of fish introductions in small, high-latitude lakes

Fish introductions have been a common practice for thousands of years but only relatively the attention has focused on their ecosystem effects. Using a combination of paleo- and neo-limnological methods, we tried to unravel the trophic effects of such introductions in small, high-latitude and origin...

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Main Author: Marco Milardi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Marine Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.FMARS.2015.03.00238/full
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author Marco Milardi
author_facet Marco Milardi
author_sort Marco Milardi
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description Fish introductions have been a common practice for thousands of years but only relatively the attention has focused on their ecosystem effects. Using a combination of paleo- and neo-limnological methods, we tried to unravel the trophic effects of such introductions in small, high-latitude and originally fishless lakes of northern Finland. These kinds of lakes constitute the numeric majority of world lakes and play a key role in global carbon and nutrient cycling. We focused on terrestrial energy utilization, seasonality of resources, trophic cascade effects and nutrient carbon cycle alterations. Present trophic interactions were investigated mainly with stable isotopes but also with fatty acids. Past trophic interactions were investigated with palaeo-proxies such as diatoms, pigments and Cladocera. We found that introduced fish relied heavily on terrestrial sources and exhibited seasonal patterns. Fish introduction cascaded through the food web and its effect could be tracked with the primary consumers. However, albeit our models predicted a significant eutrophication effect the lake trophic state did not change but rather primary production shifted from benthic to pelagic.
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spelling doaj.art-c25a1fb2832c4d9fa8ab649576c002552022-12-22T02:53:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452015-12-01210.3389/conf.FMARS.2015.03.00238183059Environmental effects of fish introductions in small, high-latitude lakesMarco Milardi0University of HelsinkiFish introductions have been a common practice for thousands of years but only relatively the attention has focused on their ecosystem effects. Using a combination of paleo- and neo-limnological methods, we tried to unravel the trophic effects of such introductions in small, high-latitude and originally fishless lakes of northern Finland. These kinds of lakes constitute the numeric majority of world lakes and play a key role in global carbon and nutrient cycling. We focused on terrestrial energy utilization, seasonality of resources, trophic cascade effects and nutrient carbon cycle alterations. Present trophic interactions were investigated mainly with stable isotopes but also with fatty acids. Past trophic interactions were investigated with palaeo-proxies such as diatoms, pigments and Cladocera. We found that introduced fish relied heavily on terrestrial sources and exhibited seasonal patterns. Fish introduction cascaded through the food web and its effect could be tracked with the primary consumers. However, albeit our models predicted a significant eutrophication effect the lake trophic state did not change but rather primary production shifted from benthic to pelagic.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.FMARS.2015.03.00238/fullIntroduced SpeciesLimnologyStable isotopespalaeolimnologyfish ecology
spellingShingle Marco Milardi
Environmental effects of fish introductions in small, high-latitude lakes
Frontiers in Marine Science
Introduced Species
Limnology
Stable isotopes
palaeolimnology
fish ecology
title Environmental effects of fish introductions in small, high-latitude lakes
title_full Environmental effects of fish introductions in small, high-latitude lakes
title_fullStr Environmental effects of fish introductions in small, high-latitude lakes
title_full_unstemmed Environmental effects of fish introductions in small, high-latitude lakes
title_short Environmental effects of fish introductions in small, high-latitude lakes
title_sort environmental effects of fish introductions in small high latitude lakes
topic Introduced Species
Limnology
Stable isotopes
palaeolimnology
fish ecology
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/conf.FMARS.2015.03.00238/full
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