Salmonid or nonsalmonid lakes: predicting the fate of northern boreal fish communities with hierarchical filters relating to a keystone piscivore

Spens, Johan; Ball, John P.

doi:10.1139/f08-103

Cited by 28 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…This could influence vulnerability to predation by northern pike. However, a recent study conducted by Spens and Ball (2008) showed that of 1029 lakes analyzed, essentially none (N = 2) had coexisting populations of northern pike and salmonids, while northern pike consistently coexisted with other forage species including European perch (Perca fluviatilis) and roach (Rutilus rutilus) after salmonids had been extirpated. Thus, it seems that across multiple system types (i.e., different habitat, lake morphology), salmonids may be particularly susceptible to northern pike predation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

An experimental approach to determine esocid prey preference in replicated pond systems

Lepak

Fetherman

Pate

et al. 2012

Lake and Reservoir Management

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Lepak JM, Fetherman ER, Pate WM, Craft CD, Gardunio EI. 2012. An experimental approach to determine esocid prey preference in replicated pond systems. Lake Reserv Manage. 28: 224-231.Competitive interactions between salmonids and white suckers (Catostomus commersonii) often result in poor salmonid growth, condition, and ultimately angler catch-per-unit-effort. Fisheries managers frequently introduce hybrid northern pike (Esox lucius) and muskellunge (E. masquinongy), known as tiger muskellunge, as biological control agents to reduce the abundance of undesirable species including white suckers, while simultaneously attempting to create viable recreational fisheries with stocked salmonids. In this study, northern pike were used to evaluate esocid prey preference between naïve, hatchery-reared rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and wild white suckers. Enclosures containing northern pike were stocked with rainbow trout and white suckers at 2 densities (50:50 and 20:80, respectively) to represent different ratios of forage. Weekly sampling by beach seine was used to determine rainbow trout and white sucker mortality. When the experiment was complete, enclosures were drained to determine overall survival of the forage species. Rainbow trout numbers declined precipitously to zero, while 60-75% of white suckers remained across all treatments. This study demonstrated a clear difference in survival of rainbow trout and white suckers (rainbow trout having lower survival) in the presence of northern pike under these conditions. We suggest fisheries managers consider these findings when stocking or managing for piscivores to control undesirable fish species, or to create recreational fisheries, while simultaneously stocking naïve sport fish vulnerable to predation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

An experimental approach to determine esocid prey preference in replicated pond systems

Lepak

Fetherman

Pate

et al. 2012

Lake and Reservoir Management

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“…In addition, lake closeness or accessibility may increase competition and predation by lacustrine fish on lotic species (op. cit., Spens and Ball (2008)). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple factors and thresholds explaining fish species distributions in lowland streams

Trigal

Degerman

2015

Global Ecology and Conservation

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a b s t r a c tAppropriate restoration and conservation measures require a good understanding of the factors limiting the distribution of species, the presence of steep changes in the distribution along environmental gradients and the effect of environmental interactions on species distribution. We used 12 environmental variables describing connectivity, hydrology, climate and stream morphology, to model the distributions of 17 fish species from 2005 Swedish stream sites that were sampled between 2000 and 2011. Modeling was performed using boosted regression trees and random forest, two machine learning techniques to assess the relationship between species distributions and their environment. Temperature, width and connectivity (minimum distance to lake or the sea and water discharge), were the most important variables explaining changes in species distribution at large spatial scales. Response curves of fitted occurrence probabilities along predictors often showed abrupt changes, however, clear threshold effects were difficult to detect. Our results show also differences across species and even in the outcomes of the two algorithms, implying that a simultaneous assessment of multiple species may provide a better signal of ecosystem change than the use of surrogate species.

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“…Brown trout are common prey for large pike [24] but reach a size refuge from pike predation at a total length of ca 37 cm [25]. Still, pike introductions to lakes often result in salmonid extirpations [19,21], and conversely, brown trout stocking is more successful in lakes where pike are rare or absent [21,26].…”

Section: Materials and Methods (A) Study Area And Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fish introductions reveal the temperature dependence of species interactions

2014

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A major area of current research is to understand how climate change will impact species interactions and ultimately biodiversity. A variety of environmental conditions are rapidly changing owing to climate warming, and these conditions often affect both the strength and outcome of species interactions. We used fish distributions and replicated fish introductions to investigate environmental conditions influencing the coexistence of two fishes in Swedish lakes: brown trout (Salmo trutta) and pike (Esox lucius). A logistic regression model of brown trout and pike coexistence showed that these species coexist in large lakes (more than 4.5 km 2 ), but not in small, warm lakes (annual air temperature more than 0.9-1.58C). We then explored how climate change will alter coexistence by substituting climate scenarios for 2091-2100 into our model. The model predicts that brown trout will be extirpated from approximately half of the lakes where they presently coexist with pike and from nearly all 9100 lakes where pike are predicted to invade. Context dependency was critical for understanding pike-brown trout interactions, and, given the widespread occurrence of context-dependent species interactions, this aspect will probably be critical for accurately predicting climate impacts on biodiversity.

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Salmonid or nonsalmonid lakes: predicting the fate of northern boreal fish communities with hierarchical filters relating to a keystone piscivore

Cited by 28 publications

References 32 publications

An experimental approach to determine esocid prey preference in replicated pond systems

An experimental approach to determine esocid prey preference in replicated pond systems

Multiple factors and thresholds explaining fish species distributions in lowland streams

Fish introductions reveal the temperature dependence of species interactions

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