Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mysis in the Okanagan Lake food web: a time-series analysis of interaction strengths in an invaded plankton community

  • Published:
Aquatic Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Mysis introductions to the lakes of western North America have shown they are important predators on zooplankton, especially daphnids, and intercept energy flows that would otherwise be available to pelagic fishes. However, understanding of the ecological roles of Mysis within invaded communities following their establishment remains weak. We analyzed zooplankton and phytoplankton data collected from Okanagan Lake, British Columbia, within a time-series framework to evaluate the strength of ecological interactions between Mysis and the other dominant plankton. Top-down effects of Mysis in the plankton community were only detected on cyclopoid copepods and cyanophytes. Mysis dynamics were mostly driven by bottom-up effects from diatoms and from small cladocerans whose dynamics were driven primarily by the abundance of edible phytoplankton. This result supports the growing appreciation of the importance of omnivory in mysids and was consistent between the two main basins of the lake. We also analyzed published stable C and N isotope data from the plankton of Okanagan Lake with an isotope mixing model to estimate the relative importance of various potential energy sources to Mysis. This analysis supported the time-series results suggesting the importance of diatoms and small zooplankton to Mysis. However, the isotopes also suggested important resource flows from Daphnia to Mysis, an interaction not detected in the time-series analysis. Taken together, these results suggest that Mysis is a strong interactor in the Okanagan Lake food web, relying in part on energy flow through Daphnia. However, subsidies from diatoms likely decouple seasonal Mysis population dynamics from the seasonal population dynamics of Daphnia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrusak H, Matthews S, McGregor I, Ashley K, Rae R, Wilson A, Webster J, Andrusak G, Vidmanic L, Stockner J, Sebastian D, Scholten G, Woodruff P, Jantz B, Bennett D, Wright H, Withler R, Harris S (2005) Okanagan Lake action plan year 9 (2004) report, Fisheries project report no. RD 111, 2005, Biodiversity Branch, Ministry of Environment, Province of British Columbia

  • Andrusak H, Andrusak G, Matthews S, Wilson A, White T, Askey P, Sebastian D, Scholten G, Woodruff P, Webster J, Vidmanic L, Stockner J (2008) Okanagan Lake Action plan years 11 (2006) and 12 (2007) Report. Fisheries project report no. RD124, Ecosystems Branch, Ministry of Environment, Province of British Columbia

  • Ashley K, Shepherd B (1996) Okanagan Lake workshop report and action plan. Fisheries project report no. RD 45, 1996. Province of British Columbia, Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks

  • Ashley K, McGregor I, Shepherd B, Sebastian D, Matthews S, Vidmanic L, Ward P, Yassien H, McEachern L, Andrusak H, Lasenby D, Quirt J, Whall J, Taylor E, Kuiper A, Troffe PM, Wong C, Scholten G, Zimmerman M, Epp P, Jensen V, Finnegan R (1999) Okanagan Lake action plan year 3 (1998) report. Fisheries project report no. RD 78, 1999. Fisheries Management Branch, Ministry of Fisheries, Province of British Columbia

  • Branstrator DK, Cabana G, Mazumder A, Rasmussen JB (2000) Measuring life-history omnivory in the opossum shrimp, Mysis relicta, with stable nitrogen isotopes. Limnol Oceanogr 45:463–467

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis BK, Stanford JA, Goodman D, Stafford CP, Gustafson DL, Beauchamp DA, Chess DW, Craft JA, Deleray MA, Hansen BS (2011) Long-term effects of a trophic cascade in a large lake ecosystem. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 108:1070–1075

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Francis TB, Schindler DE, Holtgrieve GW, Larson ER, Scheuerell MD, Semmens BX, Ward EJ (2011) Habitat structure determines resource use by zooplankton in temperate lakes. Ecol Lett 14:364–372

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gillooly JF (2000) Effect of body size and temperature on generation time in zooplankton. J Plank Res 22:241–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossnickle NE (1982) Feeding habits of Mysis relicta—an overview. Hydrobiologia 93:101–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hampton SE, Schindler DE (2006) Empirical evaluation of observation scale effects in community time-series. Oikos 113:424–439

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hampton SE, Scheuerell MD, Schindler DE (2006) Coalescence in the lake Washington story: Interaction strengths in a planktonic food web. Limnol Oceanogr 51:2042–2051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hampton SE, Izmest’eva LR, Moore MV, Katz SL, Dennis B, Silow EA (2008) Sixty years of environmental change in the world’s largest freshwater lake—Lake Baikal, Siberia. Glob Change Biol 14:1947–1958

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ives AR (1995) Predicting the response of populations to environmental change. Ecology 76:926–941

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ives AR, Carpenter SR, Dennis B (1999) Community interaction webs and zooplankton responses to planktivory manipulations. Ecology 80:1405–1421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ives AR, Dennis B, Cottingham KL, Carpenter SR (2003) Estimating community stability and ecological interactions from timeseries data. Ecol Monogr 73:301–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kay AS (2002) Mysis relicta and kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in Okanagan Lake, British Columbia: from 1970 and into the future. MS thesis, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

  • Lasenby DC, Northcote T, Furst M (1986) Theory, practice and effects of Mysis relicta introductions to North American and Scandinavian lakes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 43:1277–1284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCutchan JH, Lewis WM, Kendall C, McGrath CC (2003) Variation in trophic shift for stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Oikos 102:378–390

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moore JW, Semmens BX (2008) Incorporating uncertainty and prior information into stable isotope mixing models. Ecol Lett 11:470–480

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pinnell-Alloul B, Guay C, Angeli N, Legendre P, Dutilleul P, Balvay G, Gerdeaux D, Guillard J (1999) Large-scale heterogeneity of macrozooplankton in Lake of Geneva. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 56:1437–1451

    Google Scholar 

  • Preston ND, Carpenter SR, Cole JJ, Pace ML (2008) Airborne carbon deposition on a remote forested lake. Aquat Sci 70:213–224

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Romare P, Schindler DE, Scheuerell MD, Scheuerell JM, Litt AH, Shepherd JH (2005) Variation in spatial and temporal gradients in zooplankton spring development: the effect of climatic factors. Freshwater Biol 50:1007–1021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semmens BC, Moore JW, Ward EJ (2009) Improving Bayesian isotope mixing models: a response to Jackson et al. (2009). Ecol Lett 12:E6–E8

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sommer U, Gliwicz ZM, Lampert W, Duncan A (1986) The PEG-model of seasonal succession of planktonic events in fresh waters. Archiv fur Hydrobiol 106:433–471

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer CN, McClelland BR, Stanford JA (1991) Shrimp stocking, salmon collapse, and eagle displacement. Bioscience 41:14–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whall JD, Lasenby DC (2009) Differences in the trophic role of Mysis diluviana in two intermontane lakes. Aquat Biol 5:281–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the British Columbia Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation. We thank Steve Viscidio for help in implementing the MAR analyses.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Daniel E. Schindler, Jackie L. Carter & Peter J. Lisi

  2. National Research Council, NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center, 2725 Montlake Blvd. E, Seattle, WA, 98112, USA

    Tessa B. Francis

  3. Fish and Wildlife, British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, 102 Industrial Place, Penticton, BC, Canada

    Paul J. Askey

  4. Fish and Wildlife, British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, 4th Floor—2975 Jutland Road, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Dale C. Sebastian

Authors
  1. Daniel E. Schindler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jackie L. Carter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tessa B. Francis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Peter J. Lisi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Paul J. Askey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Dale C. Sebastian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel E. Schindler.

Additional information

Handling Editor: Piet Spaak.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schindler, D.E., Carter, J.L., Francis, T.B. et al. Mysis in the Okanagan Lake food web: a time-series analysis of interaction strengths in an invaded plankton community. Aquat Ecol 46, 215–227 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-012-9393-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-012-9393-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation