The effect of anthropogenic and environmental factors in coupled human‐natural systems: Evidence from Lake Zürich

Abstract

Exploiting a rich data set including both individual fishing activities and ecology, we study how eutrophication and climate warming influence plankton biodiversity in Lake Zürich and the consequent effects on fishers' behavior and fishery yield. Our analysis indicates that changes in the fishery of Lake Zürich were driven by complex dynamic interactions between fishing efforts, environmental conditions, and lake ecosystem ecology. Results show that nutrient levels and climate warming have both direct and indirect dynamic and nonlinear effects on both fishers' behavior and lake productivity. Ecological factors such as plankton abundance and diversity affect the dynamics of the fish population, which, in turn, influences fishing effort. The analysis highlights the importance and the interdependence of ecological-human linkages in aquatic ecosystems. Recommendations for Resource Managers• This model estimates and simulates the effects of temperature and nutrients on the ecology and the management of a commercial lake fishery.• Natural and anthropogenic factors have both direct and indirect effects on fishing intensity and the dynamics of lake productivity.

Effects of pigment richness and size variation on coexistence, richness and function in light‐limited phytoplankton

“…Our hypothesis was that a greater trait richness would lead to higher species richness and function because it would increase niche differences more than fitness differences, corresponding to prevailing ideas on the effects of trait richness. We considered light‐limited phytoplankton communities as a globally relevant study system that drives most aquatic food webs (Baggio et al., 2020; Field et al., 2009; Irigoien et al., 2004; Striebel et al., 2012). Competition for light in phytoplankton communities is a major process explaining community composition throughout the world's aquatic habitats (Goldman et al., 1979; Langdon, 1988; Stomp et al., 2007).…”