Sayer, CD;
Davidson, TA;
Rawcliffe, R;
Langdon, PG;
Leavitt, PR;
Cockerton, G;
Rose, NL;
(2016)
Consequences of fish kills for long-term trophic structure in shallow lakes: implications for theory and restoration.
Ecosystems
, 19
(7)
pp. 1289-1309.
10.1007/s10021-016-0005-z.
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Abstract
Fish kills are a common occurrence in shallow, eutrophic lakes, but their ecological consequences, especially in the long-term, are poorly understood. We studied the decadal-scale response of two UK shallow lakes to fish kills using a palaeolimnological approach. Eutrophic and turbid Barningham Lake experienced two fish kills in the early 1950s and late 1970s with fish recovering after both events, whereas less eutrophic, macrophyte-dominated Wolterton Lake experienced one kill event in the early 1970s from which fish failed to recover. Our palaeo-data show fish-driven trophic cascade effects across all trophic levels (covering benthic and pelagic species) in both lakes regardless of pre-kill macrophyte coverage and trophic status. In turbid Barningham Lake, similar to long-term studies of biomanipulations in other eutrophic lakes, effects at the macrophyte-level are shown to be temporary after the first kill (c.20 years) and non-existent after the second kill. In plant-dominated Wolterton Lake permanent fish disappearance failed to halt a long-term pattern of macrophyte community change (e.g. loss of charophytes and over-wintering macrophyte species) symptomatic of eutrophication. Important implications for theory and restoration ecology arise from our study. Firstly, our data support ideas of slow eutrophication-driven change in shallow lakes where perturbations are not necessary prerequisites for macrophyte loss. Secondly, the study emphasises a key need for lake managers to reduce external nutrient-loading if sustainable and long-term lake restoration is to be achieved. Our research highlights the enormous potential of multi-indicator palaeolimnology and alludes to an important need to consider potential fish kill signatures when interpreting results.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Consequences of fish kills for long-term trophic structure in shallow lakes: implications for theory and restoration |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10021-016-0005-z |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-016-0005-z |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
| Keywords: | fish kills; shallow lakes; palaeolimnology; trophic cascades; macrofossils; eutrophication; biomanipulation |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1497178 |
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