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Trophic cascade effects of Hoplias malabaricus (Characiformes, Erythrinidae) in subtropical lakes food webs: a mesocosm approach

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Abstract

While the cascading effect of piscivorous fish on the pelagic food-web has been well studied in north temperate lakes, little is known about the role of native piscivores in warm lakes. Here, the fish communities are typically characterized by high abundances of small, omnivorous fish exerting a high predation pressure on the zooplankton. We conducted a 1-month replicated mesocosm experiment at subtropical conditions to test the effects of piscivorous (Hoplias malabaricus) fish on phytoplankton biomass and water transparency. Our experimental design comprised two (phytoplankton + zooplankton), three (phytoplankton + zooplankton + planktivores) and four (phytoplankton + zooplankton + planktivores + piscivores) trophic levels. We designed two different four trophic level treatments, one with juveniles of H. malabaricus (<15 cm) and the other with adults (>30 cm), to evaluate the strength of the effects of juveniles and adults. A major trophic cascade response was observed. In the planktivores treatment, chlorophyll a (Chl a) and turbidity significantly increased, while total zooplankton abundance (especially Daphnia obtusa) and water transparency decreased. In both H. malabaricus treatments and in the two trophic levels control, the opposite pattern was observed; thus, Chl a and turbidity decreased, while zooplankton abundance and water transparency increased. The differences observed reflected the strong control on the planktivore Jenynsia multidentata by both sizes of H. malabaricus, propagating down through the trophic web. Hoplias malabaricus is widely distributed in South America and may, therefore, be a good candidate for restoration by biomanipulation in eutrophic lakes of subtropical and tropical regions. However, detailed investigations at whole-lake scale are needed to determine its potential.

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Acknowledgements

We warmly thank Adela Nuñez, Aníbal Bresque, the personnel of Granja Ña Ramona and PRODIE S.A, Myriam Aldabalde, Fernando Amestoy and Mariana Meerhoff. We also thank Anne Mette Poulsen for editorial assistance, Patricia Mburucuya and Juancito Carrau for their inspirational comments and suggestions. Helpful comments by Sidnei Magela Thomaz and two anonymous reviewers significantly improved the manuscript. This study was funded by Programa de Desarrollo Tecnológico (PDT) Proyecto 07/16, Programa de Desarrollo de las Ciencias Básicas (PEDECIBA), Maestría en Ciencias Ambientales and Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI). NM, CI and FTM were supported by SNI. CI was supported by PhD Scholarship Aarhus Univesitet-Danish Research Agency and EJ by the projects ‘Conwoy’ (Danish Natural Science Research Council), ‘Clear’ (a Villum Kann Rasmussen Centre of Excellence project), ‘Eurolimpacs’ and ‘WISER’ (both EU).

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  1. Grupo de Ecología y Rehabilitación de Sistemas Acuáticos, Depto. Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, CP 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Néstor Mazzeo, Carlos Iglesias, Franco Teixeira-de Mello, Ana Borthagaray, Claudia Fosalba, Roberto Ballabio, Diego Larrea, Jovana Vilches, Soledad García & Juan P. Pacheco

  2. National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, 8600, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Carlos Iglesias & Erik Jeppesen

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Aarhus, Ole Worms Allé, Building 1135, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Carlos Iglesias & Erik Jeppesen

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  1. Néstor Mazzeo
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  2. Carlos Iglesias
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  3. Franco Teixeira-de Mello
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Mazzeo, N., Iglesias, C., Teixeira-de Mello, F. et al. Trophic cascade effects of Hoplias malabaricus (Characiformes, Erythrinidae) in subtropical lakes food webs: a mesocosm approach. Hydrobiologia 644, 325–335 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0197-8

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