Invasive Mussels Alter the Littoral Food Web of a Large Lake: Stable Isotopes Reveal Drastic Shifts in Sources and Flow of Energy

نویسندگان

  • Ted Ozersky
  • David O. Evans
  • David R. Barton
چکیده

We investigated how establishment of invasive dreissenid mussels impacted the structure and energy sources of the littoral benthic food web of a large temperate lake. We combined information about pre- and postdreissenid abundance, biomass, and secondary production of the littoral benthos with results of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of archival (predreissenid) and recent (postdreissenid) samples of all common benthic taxa. This approach enabled us to determine the importance of benthic and sestonic carbon to the littoral food web before, and more than a decade after dreissenid establishment. Long term dreissenid presence was associated with a 32-fold increase in abundance, 6-fold increase in biomass, and 14-fold increase in secondary production of the littoral benthos. Dreissenids comprised a large portion of the post-invasion benthos, making up 13, 38, and 56% of total abundance, biomass, and secondary production, respectively. The predreissenid food web was supported primarily by benthic primary production, while sestonic material was relatively more important to the postdreissenid food web. The absolute importance of both sestonic material and benthic primary production to the littoral benthos increased considerably following dreissenid establishment. Our results show drastic alterations to food web structure and suggest that dreissenid mussels redirect energy and material from the water column to the littoral benthos both through biodeposition of sestonic material as well as stimulation of benthic primary production.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Benthic-Pelagic Linkages in Lakes: Using Stable Isotopes to Quantify Effects of Residential Shoreline Development on Lake Ecosystems

Historically the importance of benthic primary production to the structure and function of lake ecosystems has been underestimated. With increasing recognition of the importance of benthic-pelagic linkages in lakes, researchers recently have demonstrated that benthic production can ‘subsidize’ pelagic food webs. These findings indicate that loss of benthic production may lead to a reduction in ...

متن کامل

Lake size and fish diversity determine resource use and trophic position of a top predator in high-latitude lakes

Prey preference of top predators and energy flow across habitat boundaries are of fundamental importance for structure and function of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as they may have strong effects on production, species diversity, and food-web stability. In lakes, littoral and pelagic food-web compartments are typically coupled and controlled by generalist fish top predators. However, the...

متن کامل

Microbeads in Sediment, Dreissenid Mussels, and Anurans in the Littoral Zone of the Upper St. Lawrence River, New York.

Global plastic production has exceeded 300 million tons per year (Plastics Europe, 2015). In the marine and freshwater environments, larger plastics abrade and photo-degrade resulting in persistent environmental microplastics that are not effectively removed by existing wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The ecological effects of microplastics on the marine environment are poorly understood, ...

متن کامل

Microbeads in Sediment, Dreissenid Mussels, and Anurans in the Littoral Zone of the Upper St. Lawrence River, New York.

Global plastic production has exceeded 300 million tons per year (Plastics Europe, 2015). In the marine and freshwater environments, larger plastics abrade and photo-degrade resulting in persistent environmental microplastics that are not effectively removed by existing wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The ecological effects of microplastics on the marine environment are poorly understood, ...

متن کامل

Stable Isotope Application in Animal Nutrition Science

The application of stable isotope analysis (SIA) has become a standard scientific approach in Agricultural and Ecological researches and, more in general, in several disciplines such as biology, botany, zoology, organic chemistry, climatology, and nutrition. The main objectives of this paper are (1) to provide a simple definition of stable isotopes and (2) to illustrate analytical measurement m...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره 7  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2012