ALBERT

Notizen: 1. The influence of water temperature on occurrence and duration of a midsummer decline (MSD) of Daphnia galeata was studied in the biomanipulated Bautzen Reservoir in Germany. The proportion of piscivores in the fish community of the reservoir has been enhanced experimentally since 1981. As a consequence, Daphnia galeata has dominated the zooplankton. Over 18 years of study (1981–1998), a long-lasting MSD (longer than 30 days) occurred in 7 years, whereas a short MSD (shorter than 30 days) was observed in 6 years. During the remaining 5 years, an MSD was not observed. 
2. Two hypotheses were examined to explain the observed patterns. First, we postulated that high water temperature during winter and early spring (January–April) leads to an MSD after an early and high spring peak of daphnids. On the other hand, low temperature during winter and early spring should not cause an MSD owing to a slower increase of the population, resulting in a later peak of daphnids. Second, we hypothesized that the mean water temperature during early summer (May and June) influences the occurrence of an MSD (by controlling young-of-the-year (YOY) fish predation on daphnids). 
3. The water temperature during winter and early spring explains 83%, and the early summer water temperature 55%, of interannual variation in the occurrence of an MSD. 
4. The interannual variation in duration of an MSD was neither explained by temperature during winter and early spring nor by early summer temperature alone, but in 14 of the 18 years (78%) by a combination of both. 
5. We conclude that water temperature during winter and early spring had a strong impact on Daphnia mortality by influencing height and timing of the spring peak which, in turn, influenced the extent of overexploitation of their food resources. By contrast, the water temperature during early summer probably influenced the mortality of daphnids caused by predation of YOY fish. The relative timing of both sources of mortality, which depends on the temperature regime during the first 6 months of the year, is the key process in controlling the occurrence and duration of an MSD. A long-lasting MSD, therefore, is likely in Bautzen Reservoir only if temperatures are high during winter and early spring, as well as during early summer. 
6. As a consequence of climate warming, recent climate records reveal warming during winter, spring and early summer in middle Europe, rather than an increase in mean annual temperatures. If our findings and conclusions are related to this regional and temporal pattern of climate warming, an increasing frequency of years with a long-lasting MSD and, consequently, a decreasing efficiency of biomanipulation can be predicted.

Notizen: SUMMARY 1. Piscivore stocking at artificially high densities and fishing are the two common approaches to reduce the amount of planktivorous and benthivorous fish in lake biomanipulation programmes. Both measures have advantages and disadvantages, but their relative efficacy has not previously been directly compared.2. We calculated the average annual catch of roach and bream in a lake undergoing long-term biomanipulation (Feldberger Haussee, Germany) by seining each year between 1992 and 1998. We compared this value with a bioenergetics estimate of annual consumption rates of the dominant cohorts of piscivores, pikeperch and pike, in 1997 and 1998. We also determined species composition and length distribution of prey fish in stomachs of the piscivores.3. Roach was the dominant prey species of both pikeperch and pike, whereas bream was rarely taken by either piscivorous species. Seining removed on average larger specimens of roach than were found in the stomachs of the piscivores.4. Based on stocking densities of the piscivores, published mortality rates, and individual consumption rates, feeding of pikeperch and pike on roach exceeded the manual removal of roach by seining by a factor of 4–15 (biomass) in 1997 and 1998.5. Based on these results, a combination of fishing and piscivore enhancement is recommended. Whereas the stocks of adult roach and bream have to be reduced mainly by fishing, the predation of piscivores should be directed predominantly towards the juvenile zooplanktivorous fish. Therefore, small size-classes of piscivorous fish should be promoted by fisheries management, including stocking and harvest regulations.

Notizen: SUMMARY 1. This paper is an introduction to a special issue of Freshwater Biology containing selected papers from an international symposium on Food Web Effects of Fish in Lake Ecosystems: Research Progress, Water Quality and Fisheries Management held from 31 May to 3 June 2000 in Rheinsberg, Germany. The primary goal of the workshop was to enlarge the current view of fish-induced effects on lake ecosystems. An additional goal was to promote biomanipulation as a multiple-use tool for managing freshwater ecosystems.2. The three main topics addressed at the workshop were: (i) mechanisms involved in biomanipulation, (ii) whole-lake case studies and (iii) management aspects in water quality and fisheries.3. Mortality of Daphnia, nutrient recycling, habitat selection and fish predation are reported as important mechanisms governing food-web effects as a result of biomanipulation.4. Whole-lake case studies indicate that repeated fish removal can help improve water quality of shallow lakes, but successful biomanipulation of deep, thermally stratifying lakes remains difficult.5. In many cases, biomanipulation of lakes has proved to provide benefits in addition to improving water quality. As all lake users are potentially affected when biomanipulation is used as a lake management tool, their concerns need to be clearly recognised if biomanipulation is to be successful in practice.

Notizen: 1. According to previous field studies in the biomanipulated Bautzen reservoir (Germany), a midsummer decline of the dominating zooplankter, Daphnia galeata, was suggested to be initiated by a simultaneous occurrence of low fecundity of the daphnids and a selective feeding of underyearling fish on mature daphnids. The timing of both processes was assumed to be triggered by spring water temperature. However, the field data were not appropriate for testing whether yearly differences in spring warming are strong enough to control the predation rate of underyearling fish on daphnids. 
2. By combining field data on fish growth, feeding and population mortality, the daily uptake of Daphnia by a virtual population of underyearling perch (Perca fluviatilis) was simulated. In addition, the daily predatory mortality of mature daphnids was calculated independently. Scenarios with a warm and a cold spring were compared. Furthermore, the delayed warming of a pelagic zone of a lake versus a littoral one was simulated. Sensitivity of the simulation to changes in five parameters was tested. 
3. In both the warm spring scenario and the littoral warming scenario, more daphnids in general and more mature daphnids in particular were eaten, compared with the cold spring and pelagic scenarios. The predatory mortality of mature daphnids was driven by the increasing gape size of growing fish such that in warmer years the fish reach earlier the size at which they can eat mature daphnids. 
4. The simulation was most sensitive to changes in daily mortality rate of the fish and to the size at maturity of the daphnids. Since at least the fish mortality is also temperature-dependent via the growth rates of fish, the predation rate of perch on D. galeata in Bautzen reservoir is substantially increased during a warm spring. This underlines the assumption that even a slight global warming may have a decisive influence on food web processes due to the fine-scaled patterns of trophic interactions in lakes.

Notizen: 1. Previous comparative analyses of fish communities in European lakes have mainly focused on the response of community composition to eutrophication. In addition, frequently only one or two lake habitats have been sampled.2. Here, we present fish community data from 67 lakes in north-east Germany. Fish abundance was estimated in littoral, benthic and pelagic habitats from which a composite parameter indicating lake-wide relative species abundances was derived. This parameter was used in group comparisons and non-metric ordination procedures to explore, among 40 lake habitat descriptors sampled, those most important in structuring community composition.3. Fish community composition was mainly determined by maximum and mean depth, chlorophyll a content and lake volume. The impact of anthropogenic alterations of shore structure and human-use intensity of lakes were of minor importance. The dominant fish species were vendace Coregonus albula, perch Perca fluviatilis, smelt Osmerus eperlanus and several cyprinids (roach Rutilus rutilus, bream Abramis brama, white bream Abramis bjoerkna and bleak Alburnus alburnus).4. A response of relative species abundance to lake productivity could be demonstrated for small perch, ruffe and bream. However, when the relationship between lake morphology and productivity was controlled for, differences in species abundances were not longer attributable to differences in productivity, but to maximum lake depth.5. This suggests that there are two distinct fish community types in Germany, namely the cold-water community with vendace and perch inhabiting deeper lakes, and the warm-water cyprinid community inhabiting more shallow lakes. The previously established conceptual model of a community succession from salmonids through perch to cyprinids with increasing eutrophication is hence not continous, but includes a switch between two lake and fish community types.

Notizen: 1. Research has often focused on the pelagic areas of lakes; the littoral zone has received less attention. The few studies concerning fish distribution in littoral habitats have concentrated on stands of submersed macrophytes, whereas other littoral habitat types have seldom been investigated.2. This study aimed to predict the occurrence of juvenile fish in several littoral habitats of a shallow lake as a function of food availability, complexity of habitat structure, water depth and substrate. Habitats comprising reed, woody structures, and two open water areas differing in depth were sampled for fish and invertebrate biomasses on two shores, over 6 months and during both daylight and at night.3. The juvenile fish community consisted almost exclusively of 0+ and 1+ roach and perch. There was a strong diel component in habitat use, with a predominant occurrence of fish in complex habitats (mainly woody structures) during the day, and a partial migration towards the open habitats at night, more strongly expressed in roach than in perch.4. The diet of all fish groups was relatively constant over the seasonal cycle, and was independent of habitat. There was a higher degree of planktivory in roach than in perch, but both species fed on benthic macroinvertebrates to a substantial extent.5. According to a logistic regression model, the biomass of potential food organisms in the different habitats had little predictive effect on the spatial distribution of the fish, whereas the structural complexity of the habitats combined with the diel cycle explained about 28% of the occurrence patterns in 0+ and 1+ perch and 1+ roach.

Notizen: SUMMARY 1. We used an individual based modelling approach for roach to (i) simulate observed diel habitat shifts between the pelagic and littoral zone of a mesotrophic lake; (ii) analyse the relevance of these habitat shifts for the diet, activity costs and growth of roach; and (iii) quantify the effects of a hypothetical piscivore-mediated (presence of pikeperch) confinement of roach to the littoral zone on roach diet, activity costs and growth.2. The model suggests that in the presence of pikeperch, roach shifts from zooplankton as the primary diet to increased consumption of less nutritious food items such as macrophytes, filamentous algae and detritus.3. The growth of roach between May and October was predicted to be significantly higher in the absence of pikeperch, although the net activity costs were about 60% higher compared with the scenario where pikeperch were present.4. These modelling results provide quantitative information for interpreting diel horizontal migrations of roach as a result from a trade-off between food availability and predation risk in different habitats of a lake.5. Altering the habitat selection mode of planktivorous roach by piscivore stocking has the potential to reduce zooplankton consumption by fish substantially, and could therefore be used as a biomanipulation technique complementing the reduction of zooplanktivorous fish.

Notizen: 1. After observing that juvenile roach fed intensively on cyanobacteria and that cyanobacteria were densely colonized by heterotrophic bacteria, we tested whether the bacteria are used by underyearling roach and the extent to which they contribute to the energy requirements of the fish.2. We radiolabelled attached bacteria in a natural cyanobacterial suspension, fed the fish with these particles, and estimated their assimilation by roach. Biomass of attached bacteria on cyanobacteria increased with the proportion of the cyanobacterium Microcystis in total cyanobacteria. Biomass-specific thymidine incorporation of attached bacteria was higher than that of free bacteria.3. In feeding experiments, we detected assimilation of bacterial biomass into muscle tissue of underyearling roach. Fish consumed Microcystis to a lesser extent compared with Aphanizomenon but assimilation of attached bacteria was higher when roach fed on Microcystis because of the higher biomass of epibacteria on this cyanobacterium. However, biomass of attached bacteria was too low to be an important food source for underyearling roach.4. We conclude that assimilation of epibacteria from cyanobacteria cannot explain the success of roach in eutrophic lakes.

Notizen: 1. The ability of roach to use cyanobacterial food is generally believed to be one reason for the dominance of roach over perch in eutrophic European lakes. The aim of this study was to test whether cyanobacteria really are a suitable food for juvenile roach. Special attention was paid to differences between the two cyanobacteria species Aphanizomenon and Microcystis which are common in eutrophic lakes and are ingested by roach there.2. We performed growth and behaviour experiments with juvenile roach fed with zooplankton and the different cyanobacteria. Growth rate with Aphanizomenon was lower than with Daphnia but significantly higher than without food, whereas growth rate with Microcystis was as low as without food.3. In cultivation experiments of roach faeces, Microcystis was found not to have been digested and grew exponentially after passing through the gut whereas Aphanizomenon stayed at low biomass. Differences in growth were not related to the toxin content of cyanobacteria. Investigations of roach motility showed no differences whether fed with Aphanizomenon or Microcystis.4. In contrast to Microcystis, Aphanizomenon can be regarded as a suitable food source for juvenile roach probably because of its better digestability. We conclude that the ability to feed on cyanobacteria is not a general competitive advantage for roach, but the outcome depends on the species composition of the cyanobacteria.

Notizen: 1. In addition to effects of direct predation by planktivorous fish, nutrient recycling by fish may also contribute to structuring foodwebs in lakes. There is little evidence, however, about whether underyearling fish undergoing several ontogenetic diet shifts may have a comparable bottom-up impact.2. This study examined seasonal patterns of phosphorus (P) concentration and external load, phytoplankton, zooplankton and benthos, and diet shifts in three underyearling fish [perch (Perca fluviatilis), roach (Rutilus rutilus) and ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernuus)] in the shallow, hypertrophic biomanipulated Bautzen reservoir, Germany. Phosphorus metabolism of fish was calculated by a balanced bioenergetics model on the basis of fish diet, growth and water temperature.3. The fish showed several shifts from planktivory to other food sources during the sampling period from May to September. These shifts were probably caused by the seasonal succession of the zooplankton community, mainly the midsummer decline of Daphnia galeata.4. The diet shifts in fish also had consequences for the amount of P consumed and released. During periods of dominant zooplanktivory, the excretion of P did not exceed the removal of P stored in pelagic prey. By contrast, if benthivory dominated, fish subsidized the pelagic P pool by excreting more P from benthic prey than had been removed from the pelagic area. This occurred predominantly in perch and ruffe during periods of low zooplankton biomass, whereas the roach ate more algae and therefore excreted less P of benthic origin.5. Phosphorus release by underyearling fish was estimated at a maximum of 0.1 mg m–3 JY day–1. This value was negligible compared with both the external load of P to Bautzen reservoir and the concentration of P in the pelagic area during summer. It is therefore concluded that both the predominance of underyearling zooplanktivorous fish and the high Daphnia biomass during certain periods of the year in the Bautzen reservoir may be the reason that nutrient release by the fish structured the foodweb only marginally. 6. This study suggests that biomanipulation has altered both top-down and bottom-up impacts of fish in Bautzen reservoir. The highest efficiency of foodweb manipulations may be obtained after reduction of the external P loading below a certain threshold. In turn, if external restoration of eutrophied lakes is not accompanied by changes in fish community, then the combined forces of strong zooplanktivory and high P recycling of dense stocks of zooplanktivorous and benthivorous fish may hold the water in a eutrophic-like stage, even if external load has been significantly reduced.