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Effects of fish introduction and eutrophication on the cladoceran community in Lake Fuxian, a deep oligotrophic lake in southwest China.

SelectedWorks Author Profiles:

Joseph M. Smoak

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

Fish introduction and eutrophication are important disturbances to aquatic ecosystems, especially to oligotrophic plateau lakes that are generally considered to be very vulnerable ecosystems. Planktivorous fish Neosalanx taihuensis were introduced to Lake Fuxian, an oligotrophic (TP 17 μg/l) deep (average depth 89.7 m) plateau lake in southwest China, in the middle of the 1980s. After the introduction, N. taihuensis became the dominant fish species, and the total fish yield increased about threefold. Although the lake is still oligotrophic, the trophic state of Lake Fuxian has started to shift with increasing nutrient supply (eutrophication) due to an increase in human activities in the drainage basin. This study investigated the effects of N. taihuensis introduction and eutrophication on the cladoceran community of Lake Fuxian by examining changes in cladoceran assemblages and abundance, as well as the morphological features of Bosmina microfossils in the lake sediment. Absolute abundance of total Bosmina increased substantially after the middle of the 1980s. In addition, dominance of Bosmina with straight antennules was replaced by Bosmina with hooked antennules. The morphological variables (length of carapace, antennule and mucro) of Bosmina all decreased when planktivorous fish N. taihuensis achieved relatively large numbers. Eutrophication was the most important process determining cladoceran abundance, while fish introduction played an important role in structuring the cladoceran community in this oligotrophic, deep plateau lake.

Comments

Abstract only. Full-text article is available only through licensed access provided by the publisher. Published in Journal of Paleolimnology, 42, 427-435. doi 10.1007/s10933-008-9286-3 Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.

Language

en_US

Publisher

Kluwer Academic Publishers

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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