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Presence of fish affects lake use and breeding success in ducks

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Abstract

Several previous studies indicate that presence of fish has negative effects on waterbirds breeding on lakes, owing either to competition for common invertebrate prey or fish predation on ducklings/chicks. However, others have reported results to the contrary and it remains unresolved what factors trigger, inhibit, and modulate fish–waterbird interactions. The present study was designed to test the effect of fish presence per se, with a minimum of variation in possibly confounding environmental variables. Thus, after stratifying for area, depth, altitude, pH, and total phosphorus we compared 13 lakes with and 12 without fish (mainly pike Esox lucius and perch Perca fluviatilis) with respect to (i) general species richness of waterbirds, (ii) species-specific utilization and breeding success of two dabbling ducks (mallard Anas platyrhynchos and teal Anas crecca) and a diving duck (goldeneye Bucephala clangula). General species richness of waterbirds was higher on fishless lakes. Overall use (bird days) and brood number of teal and goldeneye were higher on fishless lakes. The latter also had more benthic and free-swimming prey invertebrates compared to lakes with fish. Mallard use, mallard brood number, and abundance of emerging insects did not differ between lake groups. Generalized linear models including fish presence as factor and considering seven environmental variables as covariates, confirmed that all waterbird variables except mallard days and broods were negatively correlated to fish presence. There was also a residual positive relationship of lake area on general species richness, teal days, and teal broods. Our data demonstrate a stronger effect of fish presence on diving ducks and small surface feeding ducks than on large surface-feeding ducks. We argue that observed patterns were caused by fish predation on ducks rather than by fish–duck competition for common prey.

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Acknowledgments

Per Wedholm, Stina Gustavsson, Jenny Lund, Joakim Norberg, Patrik Olofsson and Daniel Lussetti skilfully carried out the field work. Gunnar Gunnarsson, Petri Nummi, Hannu Pöysä kindly commented the results. Two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for generously providing constructive criticism. The study was supported by grants V-162-05 and V-98-04 from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to JE and a grant from the Swedish Research Council for Environment and Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning to GE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aquatic Biology and Chemistry, Kristianstad University, 291 88, Kristianstad, Sweden

    Johan Elmberg & Lisa Dessborn

  2. Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83, Umeå, Sweden

    Lisa Dessborn

  3. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Göran Englund

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  1. Johan Elmberg
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  2. Lisa Dessborn
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  3. Göran Englund
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Correspondence to Johan Elmberg.

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Elmberg, J., Dessborn, L. & Englund, G. Presence of fish affects lake use and breeding success in ducks. Hydrobiologia 641, 215–223 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-0085-2

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