Trophic structure, species richness and biodiversity in Danish lakes: changes along a phosphorus gradient

1. Using data from 71, mainly shallow (an average mean depth of 3 m), Danish lakes with contrasting total phosphorus concentrations (summer mean 0.02–1.0 mg P L−l), we describe how species richness, biodiversity and trophic structure change along a total phosphorus (TP) gradient divided into five TP classes (class 1–5: 0.4 mg P L−1). 2. With increasing TP, a significant decline was observed in the species richness of zooplankton and submerged macrophytes, while for fish, phytoplankton and floating-leaved macrophytes, species richness was unimodally related to TP, all peaking at 0.1–0.4 mg P L−1. The Shannon–Wiener and the Hurlbert probability of inter-specific encounter (PIE) diversity indices showed significant unimodal relationships to TP for zooplankton, phytoplankton and fish. Mean depth also contributed positively to the relationship for rotifers, phytoplankton and fish. 3. At low nutrient concentrations, piscivorous fish (particularly perch, Perca fluviatilis) were abundant and the biomass ratio of piscivores to plankti-benthivorous cyprinids was high and the density of cyprinids low. Concurrently, the zooplankton was dominated by large-bodied forms and the biomass ratio of zooplankton to phytoplankton and the calculated grazing pressure on phytoplankton were high. Phytoplankton biomass was low and submerged macrophyte abundance high. 4. With increasing TP, a major shift occurred in trophic structure. Catches of cyprinids in multiple mesh size gill nets increased 10-fold from class 1 to class 5 and the weight ratio of piscivores to planktivores decreased from 0.6 in class 1 to 0.10–0.15 in classes 3–5. In addition, the mean body weight of dominant cyprinids (roach, Rutilus rutilus, and bream, Abramis brama) decreased two–threefold. Simultaneously, small cladocerans gradually became more important, and among copepods, a shift occurred from calanoid to cyclopoids. Mean body weight of cladocerans decreased from 5.1 μg in class 1 to 1.5 μg in class 5, and the biomass ratio of zooplankton to phytoplankton from 0.46 in class 1 to 0.08–0.15 in classes 3–5. Conversely, phytoplankton biomass and chlorophyll a increased 15-fold from class 1 to 5 and submerged macrophytes disappeared from most lakes. 5. The suggestion that fish have a significant structuring role in eutrophic lakes is supported by data from three lakes in which major changes in the abundance of planktivorous fish occurred following fish kill or fish manipulation. In these lakes, studied for 8 years, a reduction in planktivores resulted in a major increase in cladoceran mean size and in the biomass ratio of zooplankton to phytoplankton, while chlorophyll a declined substantially. In comparison, no significant changes were observed in 33 ‘control’ lakes studied during the same period.

[1]  R. Rösch,et al.  Lake Constance fisheries and fish ecology , 1998 .

[2]  The restoration of shallow eutrophic lakes, and the role of northern pike, aquatic vegetation and nutrient concentration , 1990 .

[3]  Stephen R. Carpenter,et al.  Cascading Trophic Interactions and Lake Productivity , 1985 .

[4]  W. Keller,et al.  Crustacean Zooplankton Communities and Lake Morphometry in Precambrian Shield Lakes , 1994 .

[5]  Lennart Persson,et al.  Predator Regulation and Primary Production Along the Productivity Gradient of Temperate Lake Ecosystems , 1988 .

[6]  Brian Kronvang,et al.  Lake and catchment management in Denmark , 1999 .

[7]  R. Browne.  Lakes as islands: biogeographic distribution, turnover rates, and species composition in the lakes of central New York , 1981 .

[8]  Species Diversity in Aquatic Microecosystems , 1978 .

[9]  L. A. Bull,et al.  Relations between trophic state indicators and fish in Florida (U.S.A.) lakes , 1996 .

[10]  Daniel Goodman,et al.  The Theory of Diversity-Stability Relationships in Ecology , 1975, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[11]  L. Edler,et al.  Recommendations on methods for marine biological studies in the Baltic Sea. Phytoplankton and chlorophyll , 1979 .

[12]  H. Washington,et al.  Diversity, biotic and similarity indices: A review with special relevance to aquatic ecosystems , 1984 .

[13]  M. A. Leibold,et al.  Resource Edibility and the Effects of Predators and Productivity on the Outcome of Trophic Interactions , 1989, The American Naturalist.

[14]  C. Townsend,et al.  Interpopulation variation in mayfly antipredator tactics: differential effects of contrasting predatory fish , 1994 .

[15]  H. Bottrell.  A review of some problems in zooplankton production studies , 1976 .

[16]  Lennart Persson,et al.  Trophic Interactions in Temperate Lake Ecosystems: A Test of Food Chain Theory , 1992, The American Naturalist.

[17]  Fish manipulation as a lake restoration tool in shallow, eutrophic, temperate lakes 2: threshold levels, long-term stability and conclusions , 1990 .

[18]  J. Magnuson.  Managing with Exotics—A Game of Chance , 1976 .

[19]  T. Ozimek,et al.  Further long-term changes in the submerged macrophyte vegetation of the eutrophic Lake Mikolajskie (North Poland) , 1993 .

[20]  L. Greenberg,et al.  Competition between a Planktivore, a Benthivore, and a Species with Ontogenetic Diet Shifts , 1994 .

[21]  Erik Jeppesen,et al.  Top-down control in freshwater lakes: the role of nutrient state, submerged macrophytes and water depth , 1997 .

[22]  S. Dodson.  Species richness of crustacean zooplankton in European lakes of different sizes , 1991 .

[23]  F. M. Chutter,et al.  AN EMPIRICAL BIOTIC INDEX OF THE QUALITY OF WATER IN SOUTH AFRICAN STREAMS AND RIVERS , 1972 .

[24]  H. Bergman,et al.  Lake Acidification and Fisheries Project: Acclimation to Low pH and Elevated Aluminum by Trouts , 1991 .

[25]  J. G. Stanley.  Production of Hybrid, Androgenetic, and Gynogenetic Grass Carp and Carp , 1976 .

[26]  Whole-lake food-web manipulation as a means to study community interactions in a small ecosystem , 1990 .

[27]  J. Elser,et al.  Zooplankton effects on phytoplankton in lakes of contrasting trophic status , 1991 .

[28]  Colin S. Reynolds,et al.  The ecology of freshwater phytoplankton , 1984 .

[29]  D. O. Hessen,et al.  Replacement of herbivore zooplankton species along gradients of ecosystem productivity and fish predation pressure , 1995 .

[30]  K. Christoffersen,et al.  Measurements of chlorophyll-a from phytoplankton using ethanol as extraction solvent , 1987, Archiv für Hydrobiologie.

[31]  G. Fryer.  Crustacean diversity in relation to the size of water bodies: some facts and problems , 1985 .

[32]  S. Carpenter,et al.  Trophic cascade and biomanipulation: Interface of research and management‐A reply to the comment by DeMelo et al , 1992 .

[33]  Ramón Margalef.  Perspectives in Ecological Theory , 1968 .

[34]  J. Hartmann,et al.  Percids of Lake Constance, a Lake Undergoing Eutrophication , 1977 .

[35]  Z. Gliwicz.  Food size selection and seasonal succession of filter feeding zoo plankton in an eutrophic lake , 1977 .

[36]  R. D. Gulati,et al.  Can Daphnia prevent a blue-green algal bloom in hypertrophic lakes? , 1988 .

[37]  C. Townsend,et al.  Community‐Wide Consequences of Trout Introduction in New Zealand Streams , 1994 .

[38]  C. Townsend,et al.  The behavioural basis of prey selection by underyearling bream (Abramis brama (L.)) and roach (Rutilus rutilus (L.)) , 1983 .

[39]  A. Mazumder,et al.  Patterns of Algal Biomass in Dominant Odd‐ vs. Even‐Link Lake Ecosystems , 1994 .

[40]  M. Meijer,et al.  Biomanipulation Tool for Water Management , 1990, Developments in Hydrobiology.

[41]  H. Utermöhl.  Zur Vervollkommnung der quantitativen Phytoplankton-Methodik , 1958 .

[42]  D. McQueen,et al.  Biomanipulation : hit or myth ? , 1992 .

[43]  Engineering and biological approaches to the restoration from eutrophication of shallow lakes in which aquatic plant communities are important components , 1990 .

[44]  Marten Scheffer.  Multiplicity of stable states in freshwater systems , 1990 .

[45]  M. Pace.  An empirical analysis of zooplankton community size structure across lake trophic gradients1 , 1986 .

[46]  R. Paine,et al.  The Pisaster-Tegula Interaction: Prey Patches, Predator Food Preference, and Intertidal Community Structure , 1969 .

[47]  Cluster analysis of plankton community structure in 21 lakes along a gradient of trophy , 1990 .

[48]  A. Mazumder,et al.  REVERSAL OF GRAZING IMPACT ON PLANT SPECIES RICHNESS IN NUTRIENT‐POOR VS. NUTRIENT‐RICH ECOSYSTEMS , 1998 .

[49]  D. Tilman.  Resource competition and community structure. , 1983, Monographs in population biology.

[50]  Erik Jeppesen,et al.  Changes in nitrogen retention in shallow eutrophic lakes following a decline in density of cyprinids , 1998 .

[51]  R. Macarthur,et al.  The Theory of Island Biogeography , 1969 .

[52]  E. Bergman.  Changes in Abundance of Two Percids, Perca fluviatilis and Gymnocephalus cernuus, along a Productivity Gradient: Relations to Feeding Strategies and Competitive Abilities , 1991 .

[53]  Michael T. Brett,et al.  Consumer Versus Resource Control in Freshwater Pelagic Food Webs , 1997, Science.

[54]  B. Moss,et al.  Development of daphnid communities in diatom- and cyanophyte-dominated lakes and their relevance to lake restoration by biomanipulation , 1991 .

[55]  Factors related to variance of residuals in chlorophyll — total phosphorus regressions in lakes and reservoirs of Argentina , 1990 .

[56]  John R. Post,et al.  Trophic Relationships in Freshwater Pelagic Ecosystems , 1986 .

[57]  D. J. Hall,et al.  AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH TO THE PRODUCTION DYNAMICS AND STRUCTURE OF FRESHWATER ANIMAL COMMUNITIES1 , 1970 .

[58]  S. Dodson.  Predicting crustacean zooplankton species richness , 1992 .

[59]  F. Bosch,et al.  Herbivorous nutrition of Cyclops vicinus: the effect of a pure algal diet on feeding, development, reproduction and life cycle , 1994 .

[60]  L. Oksanen,et al.  Exploitation Ecosystems in Gradients of Primary Productivity , 1981, The American Naturalist.

[61]  J. Leach,et al.  Responses of Percid Fishes and Their Habitats to Eutrophication , 1977 .

[62]  Erik Jeppesen,et al.  Biomanipulation as an Application of Food-Chain Theory: Constraints, Synthesis, and Recommendations for Temperate Lakes , 1998, Ecosystems.

[63]  G. Harris.  Phytoplankton Ecology: Structure, Function and Fluctuation , 1986 .

[64]  W. Lampert.  Inhibitory and Toxic Effects of Blue‐green Algae on Daphnia , 1981 .

[65]  J. Stockner,et al.  THE SUCCESSION OF DIATOM ASSEMBLAGES IN THE RECENT SEDIMENTS OF LAKE WASHINGTON1 , 1967 .

[66]  S. Fretwell,et al.  The Regulation of Plant Communities by the Food Chains Exploiting Them , 2015 .

[67]  S. Carpenter,et al.  The trophic cascade in lakes: Contents , 1993 .

[68]  S. Hurlbert.  The Nonconcept of Species Diversity: A Critique and Alternative Parameters. , 1971, Ecology.

[69]  Robert H. Peters,et al.  Empirical Prediction of Crustacean Zooplankton Biomass and Profundal Macrobenthos Biomass in Lakes , 1984 .

[70]  John R. Post,et al.  BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN IMPACTS ON FRESHWATER PELAGIC COMMUNITY STRUCTURE' , 1989 .

[71]  Lorne A. Greig,et al.  Percid Habitat: The River Analogy , 1977 .

[72]  R. Ryder,et al.  Photoreceptors and Visual Pigments as Related to Behavioral Responses and Preferred Habitats of Perches (Perca spp.) and Pikeperches (Stizostedion spp.) , 1977 .

[73]  D. Straile,et al.  Crustacean zooplankton in Lake Constance from 1920 to 1995 : response to eutrophication and re-oligotrophication , 1998 .

[74]  K. Patalas,et al.  The crustacean plankton communities in Polish lakes: With 10 figures in the text , 1966 .

[75]  T. Ozimek,et al.  Long-term changes of the submerged macrophytes in eutrophic lake Mikołajskie (North Poland) , 1984 .

[76]  Edward McCauley,et al.  Empirical Relationships Between Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Biomass in Lakes , 1981 .

[77]  J. Bays,et al.  Zooplankton and Trophic State Relationships in Florida Lakes , 1983 .

[78]  K. Patalas.  Crustacean Plankton and the Eutrophication of St. Lawrence Great Lakes , 1972 .

[79]  J. Connell.  Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. , 1978, Science.

[80]  O. Lessmark.  Competition between perch (Perca fluviatilis) and roach (Rutilus rutilus) in south Swedish lakes , 1983 .

[81]  B. Rørslett.  Principal determinants of aquatic macrophyte richness in northern European lakes , 1991 .

[82]  L. Hansson.  Effects of competitive interactions on the biomass development of planktonic and periphytic algae in lakes1 , 1988 .

[83]  S. Dodson,et al.  Predation, Body Size, and Composition of Plankton. , 1965, Science.

[84]  L. Persson.  Effects of intra- and interspecific competition on dynamics and size structure of a perch Perca fluviatilis and a roach Rutilus rutilus population , 1983 .

[85]  Orlando Sarnelle,et al.  Nutrient Enrichment and Grazer Effects on Phytoplankton in Lakes , 1992 .

[86]  T. Crisman,et al.  Factors influencing Fish Assemblages and Species Richness in Subtropical Florida Lakes and a Comparison with Temperate Lakes , 1990 .

[87]  Anne-Mette Hansen,et al.  Effect of high pH on zooplankton and nutrients in fish-free enclosures , 1991 .

[88]  P. Biró.  Effects of Exploitation, Introductions, and Eutrophication on Percids in Lake Balaton , 1977 .