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Application of a bioenergetics model for analysis of growth and food consumption of subarctic whitefish Coregonus lavaretus (L.) in Lake Kilpisjärvi, Finnish Lapland

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Abstract

A bioenergetics model was used to estimate daily food consumption and growth of benthic whitefish Coregonus lavaretus (L.) of age groups 1+ to 10+, in oligotrophic Lake Kilpisjärvi, northern Finnish Lapland. Fish and zooplankton samples and water temperature data were collected twice per month from February to December 1993. Simulation results indicated wide seasonal variations in consumption and growth rates. Growth was in general slow; especially in age-group 6 the net increase in weight was slight. The fit of the model to the weight data was good, and the model was able to follow even rapid seasonal variations in the weight. There were clear changes in the diet during the year. In March, when the food intake was reduced, copepods, mainly adult calanoids, formed the bulk of the food consumed. The most intensive consumption period lasted from June to late September. Chironomid pupae and planktonic cladocerans were the major summer food items. The largest individuals fed mainly on molluscs during summer. Zooplankton survey and consumption estimates did not show directly that the population density of copepodids and adults of Eudiaptomus graciloides were affected by whitefish predation although their population density decreased in spring. Nauplii, showing the maximum population density in April, were not consumed. The role of copepod consumption in the timing of Diphyllobothrium ditremum plerocercoid transmission to whitefish was also discussed. The increased copepod consumption rate during winter results in high energy intake but also an increased risk of food transmitted parasite infection.

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  1. Department of Limnology and Environmental Protection, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014, Viikki, Finland

    A. Tolonen

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Tolonen, A. Application of a bioenergetics model for analysis of growth and food consumption of subarctic whitefish Coregonus lavaretus (L.) in Lake Kilpisjärvi, Finnish Lapland. Hydrobiologia 390, 153–169 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003525008870

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