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Relative strength of top-down effects of an invasive fish and bottom-up effects of nutrient addition in a simple aquatic food web

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 28, pages 5845–5853 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Introduction of exotic predators or runoff of fertilizers can alter aquatic food webs, in particular zooplankton communities, through top-down and bottom-up effects. In a mesocosm experiment, we manipulated the density of Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) and nutrient levels (nitrate and phosphate independently) and observed effects on zooplankton and phytoplankton in a fall, temperate zone system. If top-down regulation were important, we expected mosquitofish predation to reduce zooplankton abundance, which would indirectly benefit phytoplankton. If bottom-up regulation were important, we expected nutrient addition to increase both primary producers and zooplankton. Western Mosquitofish predation significantly decreased the abundance of several zooplankton taxa, resulting in a trophic cascade with increased chlorophyll a (i.e., primary productivity). This effect did not differ between mesocosms with 5 or 10 fish. Nutrient addition had no significant effects on zooplankton; however, chlorophyll a was positively affected by both nitrogen addition and phosphorus addition. Our results suggest weak bottom-up regulation in our experimental community, but strong top-down regulation, emphasizing the potential consequences of introducing non-native Western Mosquitofish to native aquatic ecosystems.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

We thank our Fall 2009 BIOL375 Population and Community Ecology classes for help in conducting this experiment. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. The collection and use of Western Mosquitofish were conducted under permit from the Ohio Department of Wildlife.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Denison University, Granville, OH, 43023, USA

    Jessica E. Rettig & Geoffrey R. Smith

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  1. Jessica E. Rettig
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  2. Geoffrey R. Smith
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Contributions

JER conceived the experiment, set up the experiment, supervised data collection, analyzed the data, and contributed to the writing of the manuscript. GRE conceived the experiment, set up the experiment, supervised data collection, analyzed the data, and was a major contributor to the writing of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jessica E. Rettig.

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

Collection and use of Western Mosquitofish were conducted under permit from the Ohio Department of Wildlife (11-126) and with approval by the Denison University IACUC (09-007).

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Rettig, J.E., Smith, G.R. Relative strength of top-down effects of an invasive fish and bottom-up effects of nutrient addition in a simple aquatic food web. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 5845–5853 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10933-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10933-7

Keywords

  • Gambusia affinis
  • Nitrate
  • Phosphate
  • Phytoplankton
  • Western Mosquitofish
  • Zooplankton