Benthic Macroinvertebrates of the St. Lawrence Great Lakes

Abstract

The history of Great Lakes benthic research from 1870 to the present is briefly reviewed. An examination of the status of taxonomic work on benthic components, and a consideration of the zoogeographical history of the benthos leads to a discussion of bottom communities and macroinvertebrate production in the five major lakes.Profundal communities throughout the lakes are dominated by the glaciomarine relict amphipod Pontoporeia affinis and various species of Oligochaeta, Sphaeriidae, and Chironomidae. The specific composition of these components, and natural and recently imposed changes in their proportions within communities are examined. Population densities and standing stocks, and the proportion of oligochaetes in communities, all tend to increase in response to a natural gradient in productivity inferred from increasing concentrations of parameters such as organic matter and water hardness. Man's influence on water quality anywhere along this gradient compounds the effects of natural factors towards tubificid communities of predictable species composition: Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri, L. claparedeianus, L. cervix, L. maumeensis, Peloscolex multisetosus, and often Tubifex tubifex. The ameliorating influence of water depth is shown in Lake Erie where the change in community composition reflects improving profundal water quality from west to east — a reversed model of the Great Lakes system as a whole.

Eutrophication of Lake Geneva indicated by the oligochaete communities of the profundal

“…Similarly, allochthonous inputs were also higher before 1983 than before 1978. The mean worm abundance in both surveys was well above the mean values (1 000 worms per m*) recorded in oligotrophic lakes (Cook & Johnson, 1974). Furthermore, the Shipek grab takes roughly only 33% of the oligochaetes present in the sediment compared to a corer (Flannagan, 1970).…”

“…Similarly, Stylodrilus heringianus constituted 75% to 100% of worm communities in the oligotrophic areas of Lake Superior (Cook & Johnson, 1974). In 1918, species dominant in eutrophic lakes were relatively frequent and abundant in Lake Geneva.…”

Metabolite Profiles in Starved Diporeia spp. Using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) Based Metabolomics

“…Diporeia spp., holarctic amphipods, were historically the most abundant benthic macroinvertebrate (more than 70% of the total benthic biomass) in the offshore region of the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America (Cook and Johnson, 1974;Nalepa, 1989). Due to their high abundance and rich lipid content, Diporeia have been an important energy source for a number of fish species, including lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis), deepwater sculpin (Myoxocephalus thompsoni), and alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus).…”

Method for distinguishingLimnodrilus hoffmeisteri andLimnodrilus claparedeianus (Oligochaeta, Tubificidae) and its applicability in Lake Suwa

“…hoffmeisteri and L . claparedeianus (Hiltunen, 1967(Hiltunen, , 1969Brinkhurst & Jamieson, 1971 ;Cook & Johnson, 1974 ;Barbour, Cook & Pomerantz, 1980 ;Bird & Ladle, 1981 ;Dzwillo, 1984 ;Ohtaka, 1985) . Hiltunen (1967) and Bird & Ladle (1981) studied variations of setae shape .…”