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Effects of removal and regeneration of bankside vegetation on fish population dynamics in the Warta River, Poland

  • Management aspects of streams and rivers
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Abstract

In March 1989 both banks of a 450 m section of the Warta River, 2 km above a reservoir, were cleared of their riparian vegetation (osiers, willows and alders). In October 1988 17 fish species had been recorded there, with a standing crop (SC) of 31.9 kg ha −1. In April 1989, the number of species decreased to 11, and their SC to 7.9 kg ha −1.

Over the next three years new alder trees appeared and osiers regrew to 3.5 m. The SC in October 1990, October 1991 and May 1992 was recorded at 36.5, 66.2 and 40.9 kg ha −1, respectively. The primary effect was on phytophils, whose biomass was directly proportional to the height of the trees and osiers (r = 0.87, p = 0.05). The litho-phytophils appeared to occupy the habitat vacated by the phytophils soon after bank clearance (r = −0.87, p = 0.05), but then declined as the osiers grew.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology, University of Łódź, 12/16 Banacha Str., 90-237, Łódź, Poland

    Tadeusz Penczak

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  1. Tadeusz Penczak
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Penczak, T. Effects of removal and regeneration of bankside vegetation on fish population dynamics in the Warta River, Poland. Hydrobiologia 303, 207–210 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00034057

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