Effects of water-level fluctuations on the littoral benthic fish community in lakes: a mesocosm experiment
Changes in the water level of lakes, either natural or man-made, are important environmental perturbations for eulittoral benthic fish communities. In outdoor mesocosm experiments, we tested the effects of decreasing shelter availability due to autumn lake-level decrease on the behavior and the grow...
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ftrepec:oai:RePEc:oup:beheco:v:16:y:2005:i:4:p:741-746 2024-04-14T08:10:00+00:00 Effects of water-level fluctuations on the littoral benthic fish community in lakes: a mesocosm experiment Philipp Fischer Uta Öhl http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/ari047 unknown http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/ari047 article ftrepec 2024-03-19T10:32:00Z Changes in the water level of lakes, either natural or man-made, are important environmental perturbations for eulittoral benthic fish communities. In outdoor mesocosm experiments, we tested the effects of decreasing shelter availability due to autumn lake-level decrease on the behavior and the growth of two littoral benthic dwellers, the juvenile burbot and the stone loach. The two species showed significantly different changes in behavior when shelter availability decreased. Burbot built up a distinct hierarchy when shelter became sparse, with larger fish being significantly more successful in competing for suitable shelter than smaller conspecifics. The hierarchy, however, ceased when shelter availability decreased below a certain level. The largest fish then increasingly abandoned shelter use, while smaller fish persisted with their sheltering behavior. Stone loach, in contrast, showed no hierarchical order or size-related shelter use. Only burbot showed a significant relationship between the ability to occupy the preferred shelter and the somatic growth. These two species provide an example of different strategies to deal with environmental perturbations like lake-level decrease, with the stenoecious, dominant strategy of the burbot and the euryoecious, evasive strategy of stone loach. The results demonstrate the importance of conducting behavioral studies under as natural conditions as possible. Copyright 2005. Barbatula barbatula; competition; dominant; growth; Lota lota; social behavior Article in Journal/Newspaper Burbot Lota lota lota RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) |
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RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) |
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Changes in the water level of lakes, either natural or man-made, are important environmental perturbations for eulittoral benthic fish communities. In outdoor mesocosm experiments, we tested the effects of decreasing shelter availability due to autumn lake-level decrease on the behavior and the growth of two littoral benthic dwellers, the juvenile burbot and the stone loach. The two species showed significantly different changes in behavior when shelter availability decreased. Burbot built up a distinct hierarchy when shelter became sparse, with larger fish being significantly more successful in competing for suitable shelter than smaller conspecifics. The hierarchy, however, ceased when shelter availability decreased below a certain level. The largest fish then increasingly abandoned shelter use, while smaller fish persisted with their sheltering behavior. Stone loach, in contrast, showed no hierarchical order or size-related shelter use. Only burbot showed a significant relationship between the ability to occupy the preferred shelter and the somatic growth. These two species provide an example of different strategies to deal with environmental perturbations like lake-level decrease, with the stenoecious, dominant strategy of the burbot and the euryoecious, evasive strategy of stone loach. The results demonstrate the importance of conducting behavioral studies under as natural conditions as possible. Copyright 2005. Barbatula barbatula; competition; dominant; growth; Lota lota; social behavior |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Philipp Fischer Uta Öhl |
spellingShingle |
Philipp Fischer Uta Öhl Effects of water-level fluctuations on the littoral benthic fish community in lakes: a mesocosm experiment |
author_facet |
Philipp Fischer Uta Öhl |
author_sort |
Philipp Fischer |
title |
Effects of water-level fluctuations on the littoral benthic fish community in lakes: a mesocosm experiment |
title_short |
Effects of water-level fluctuations on the littoral benthic fish community in lakes: a mesocosm experiment |
title_full |
Effects of water-level fluctuations on the littoral benthic fish community in lakes: a mesocosm experiment |
title_fullStr |
Effects of water-level fluctuations on the littoral benthic fish community in lakes: a mesocosm experiment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of water-level fluctuations on the littoral benthic fish community in lakes: a mesocosm experiment |
title_sort |
effects of water-level fluctuations on the littoral benthic fish community in lakes: a mesocosm experiment |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/ari047 |
genre |
Burbot Lota lota lota |
genre_facet |
Burbot Lota lota lota |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/ari047 |
_version_ |
1796307484791537664 |