Changing Ecosystem Dynamics in the Laurentian Great Lakes: Bottom-Up and Top-Down Regulation

Bunnell, David B.; Barbiero, Richard P.; Ludsin, Stuart A.; Madenjian, Charles P.; Warren, Glenn J.; Dolan, David M.; Brenden, Travis O.; Briland, Ruth D.; Gorman, Owen T.; He, Ji X.; Johengen, Thomas H.; Lantry, Brian F.; Lesht, Barry M.; Nalepa, Thomas F.; Riley, Stephen C.; Riseng, Catherine M.; Treska, Ted; Tsehaye, Iyob; Walsh, Maureen G.; Warner, David M.; Weidel, Brian C.

doi:10.1093/biosci/bit001

Cited by 244 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Factors such as other exotic species (quagga and zebra mussels), changes in fish stocking, or trends in nutrient loading (phosphate abatement), all complicate interpretations of top-down and bottom-up effects in the Laurentian Great Lakes (Bunnell et al 2014). Another consideration is scale, for the enormous size and interconnected hydrodynamic nature of the Great Lakes creates conditions more suitable for metapopulation analysis.…”

Section: Interpretations For Great Lakes Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A plague of waterfleas (Bythotrephes): impacts on microcrustacean community structure, seasonal biomass, and secondary production in a large inland-lake complex

et al. 2016

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The spiny cladoceran (Bythotrephes longimanus) is an invasive, predaceous zooplankter that is expanding from Great Lakes coastal waters into inland lakes within a northern latitudinal band. In a large, Boundary Water lake complex (largely within Voyageurs National Park), we use two comparisons, a 2-year spatial and a 12-year temporal, to quantify seasonal impacts on food webs and biomass, plus a preliminary calculation of secondary production decline. Bythotrephes alters the seasonal biomass pattern by severely depressing microcrustaceans during summer and early fall, when the predator is most abundant. Cladoceran and cyclopoid copepods suffer the most serious population declines, although the resistant cladoceran Holopedium is favored in spatial comparisons. Microcrustacean biomass is reduced 40-60 % and secondary production declines by about 67 %. The microcrustacean community shifts towards calanoid copepods. The decline in secondary production is due both to summer biomass loss and to the longer generation times of calanoid copepods (slower turnover). The Bythotrephes ''top-down'' perturbation appears to hold across small, intermediate, and largesized lakes (i.e. appears scale-independent), and is pronounced when Bythotrephes densities reach 20-40 individuals L -1 . Induction tests with small cladocerans (Bosmina) suggest that certain native prey populations do not sense the exotic predator and are ''blindsided''. Failure of prey to deploy defenses could explain the disproportionate community impacts in New World versus Old World lakes.

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Section: Interpretations For Great Lakes Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A plague of waterfleas (Bythotrephes): impacts on microcrustacean community structure, seasonal biomass, and secondary production in a large inland-lake complex

et al. 2016

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“…Previous work has demonstrated that Great Lakes herring gulls have become more reliant on terrestrial resources due to declines in pelagic forage fish abundances throughout the basin (Hebert et al 2008). Initially, large declines in forage fish abundances and size distributions were attributed primarily to top-down control related to high salmonid biomass bolstered through continuous stocking efforts (Hebert et al 2008;Bunnell et al 2014). However, since the collapse of Lake Huron alewife stocks in 2003, harvest data demonstrate that the abundances of six top salmonid predator species declined between , 50-93% from 2004(Riley 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, since the collapse of Lake Huron alewife stocks in 2003, harvest data demonstrate that the abundances of six top salmonid predator species declined between , 50-93% from 2004(Riley 2013). Salmonids such as lake trout, chinook, and coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) salmon exert the majority of the top predator demand on forage fish species in Great Lakes pelagic food webs (Bunnell et al 2014). The importance of top predator stocking programs has also diminished in response to declining forage fish abundances (Riley 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These programs have been highly successful throughout the Great Lakes basin for reducing the extent of eutrophication through phosphorus management programs and controlling burgeoning abundances of prey fish species such as alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus; Bunnell et al 2014). Such management strategies primarily aim to achieve a balance between the extent of primary production and lake trophic status while providing valuable ecosystem services including productive commercial and recreational fisheries.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Congruent energy density trends of fish and birds reflect ecosystem change

Paterson

Hebert

Drouillard

et al. 2014

Limnology & Oceanography

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Lake Huron, the third largest freshwater lake in the world, has become increasingly oligotrophic since the early 1990s and is also currently experiencing substantial changes in species abundances and diversity. We used longterm biomonitoring data to calculate whole-body energy densities for Lake Huron rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), and also for herring gull (Larus argentatus) eggs collected from 1989-2011. Significant temporal declines in energy densities were observed for all three species, and significant declines were found for lake trout size-at-age and herring gull egg sizes. For lake trout and herring gulls, these declines occurred during a period of reduced abundance of pelagic forage fish and increased inclusion of terrestrial food in diets of herring gulls. Declining energy density in rainbow smelt occurred concomitant with declining phytoplankton and zooplankton resources, the principal energy source for this species. Reduced production capacity in lower trophic levels appears to be affecting upper trophic levels of the Lake Huron food web, emphasizing the cascading effects of ecosystem change.

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“…In particular, the relative importance of "bottom-up" (e.g., lower trophic level changes) versus "top-down" (e.g., predation) factors to fish community changes in the Great Lakes have been widely debated (e.g., Barbiero et al 2011;Eshenroder and Lantry 2012;Bunnell et al 2014). In Lake Huron, recent ecosystem changes have been particularly profound, and populations of alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), an offshore pelagic prey fish, collapsed in 2003 and have yet to recover (Riley et al 2008.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Misapplied survey data and model uncertainty result in incorrect conclusions about the role of predation on alewife population dynamics in Lake Huron: a comment on

Riley

Dunlop

2016

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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Changing Ecosystem Dynamics in the Laurentian Great Lakes: Bottom-Up and Top-Down Regulation

Cited by 244 publications

References 58 publications

A plague of waterfleas (Bythotrephes): impacts on microcrustacean community structure, seasonal biomass, and secondary production in a large inland-lake complex

A plague of waterfleas (Bythotrephes): impacts on microcrustacean community structure, seasonal biomass, and secondary production in a large inland-lake complex

Congruent energy density trends of fish and birds reflect ecosystem change

Misapplied survey data and model uncertainty result in incorrect conclusions about the role of predation on alewife population dynamics in Lake Huron: a comment on

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