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Cascading trophic effects in pampean shallow lakes: results of a mesocosm experiment using two coexisting fish species with different feeding strategies

  • Shallow Lakes
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Abstract

Planktivorous fish, both visual predators and filter feeders, enhance eutrophication processes in lakes. In pampean shallow lakes several planktivorous species may coexist but often two species dominate: silverside (Odontesthes bonariensis), a visual planktivorous fish when young adult, and sabalito (Cyphocharax voga), an omnivorous filter feeder. To assess the relative strength of the cascading trophic effects of the two species, a mesocosm experiment was conducted using different proportions of both species as treatments. Differences were found in water transparency, phytoplankton biomass, crustacean abundance, individual size and biomass. Our results suggest that visual predators intensify eutrophication effects more strongly than filter feeders do.

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Acknowledgements

R. Quirós acknowledges research support from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET). We thank J. J. Rosso, C. A. Petracchi, A. M. Rennella, D. Blanco Bello, V. Asikian and H. T. von Bernard for their assistance, and Miss Anne Mette Poulsen for language assistance, and are grateful to Alejandro Sosnovsky and Armando Martín Rennella for their insightful comments. Thanks go also to Erik Jeppesen for his valuable comments and the improvement of an early version of the manuscript. We also appreciate the critics, comments and ideas of two reviewers: Xavier Lazzaro and an anonymous person. This work was supported by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Técnica grant PMT-PICT 4698.

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  1. Sistemas de Producción Acuática, Departamento de Producción Animal Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Av. San Martín 4453, CP1417, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    María B. Boveri & Rolando Quirós

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  1. María B. Boveri
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  2. Rolando Quirós
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Correspondence to María B. Boveri.

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Boveri, M.B., Quirós, R. Cascading trophic effects in pampean shallow lakes: results of a mesocosm experiment using two coexisting fish species with different feeding strategies. Hydrobiologia 584, 215–222 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-007-0581-1

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