Changes in diet and niche breadth of a small fish species in response to the flood pulse in a Neotropical floodplain lake

This study tested the hypothesis that the flood pulse affects the diet composition and the niche breadth of Moenkhausia forestii, a small characid fish inhabiting the littoral zone of lakes. To this end, we compared the diet composition (at the population and individual levels) between hydrological periods (high and low water phases) in a floodplain lake of the Upper Paraná River. PERMANOVA revealed differences in the diet between periods (pseudoF_1,38 = 8.5; p < 0.001), with predominant consumption of chironomid larvae and Ephemeroptera (aquatic resources) in the low-water period and an increase in the contribution of terrestrial resources (Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, and Orthoptera) during the high-water period. Based on the PERMDISP results, inter-individual variability in M. forestii diet also differed between periods (F_1,38 = 5.80; p = 0.02), with higher values during the high-water period resulting in a dietary niche expansion. During the low-water period, we observed the dominance of chironomid larvae in the diets of most individuals, resulting in lower inter-individual variability and thus narrower niche breadth. The diet of M. forestii was affected by the flood pulse at both the population and individual levels. The most important difference was found in the origin of food items; during the low-water period, the diet consisted mainly of aquatic resources, and during the high-water period, there was a large contribution of terrestrial resources. This variation is related to the increased availability of allochthonous resources in the high period, when terrestrial areas are flooded by the overflow of the river, thereby increasing the input of resources into the aquatic environment. The increased availability of food resources during this period allowed the expansion of the trophic niche of M. forestii, accompanied by the highest richness (19 items) and the highest evenness of food items. Our findings demonstrated that the flood pulse affected the composition of the M. forestii diet at both the population and individual levels. These results support the importance of the flood pulse, which connects aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, in providing food resources for fish.     

大型通江湖泊洞庭湖的鱼类物种多样性及其时空变化

为了解通江湖泊鱼类物种多样性现状,于2004年3月-2004年12月和2005年5月对洞庭湖城陵矶、岳阳和沅江三个区域的鱼类进行逐月调查.共鉴定鱼类69种,隶属6目14科44属,其中59.4%为鲤科鱼类.以种类数和多样性指数分析了群落多样性特征,结果表明洞庭湖鱼类种类多样性较高,且时空变化较大.一般地,湖区与长江干流的距离越近,种类数达到峰值的时间就越早;鱼类多样性在春夏季高于秋冬季,在南洞庭湖高于其它两个区域.以优势度>5000为标准,全湖有17种优势种,其中80.0%为湖泊定居性鱼类.在生态类群方面,湖泊定居性鱼类种类最多,占总种类数的74.0%;江湖洄游性鱼类最少,占13.0%.对比分析显示,由于生境丧失、天然苗种资源衰退和过度捕捞等原因,洞庭湖鱼类多样性较20世纪70年代明显下降,洄游鱼类种类数减少;通江湖泊鱼类多样性明显高于阻隔湖泊,表明江湖阻隔造成鱼类多样性下降,因此,加强江湖连通是保护鱼类多样性的有效手段.     

Developing a small lake: The case of Palakpakin Lake,San Pablo City,Philippines

This study assesses the development issues of Palakpakin Lake. Premised on the scarcity of development studies on lakes (as the field is dominated by limnology and aquaculture studies) and small-lake studies (as the field is heavily concentrated on big-lake studies), the article argues that the lake has long been wanting of development initiatives from its administrative agencies. It further contends that the Laguna Lake Development Authority and the City Government of San Pablo must now act to promote development of the lake; specifically, by modifying their model-template approach, by formulating a zoning-development plan, and by fostering ecotourism. These basic actions are necessary in managing, developing and conserving the natural resource, as well as in preparing, informing and precipitating other actions on the lake.     

The baroclinic response to wind in a small two-basin lake

Field data and two linear layered models were used to examine the baroclinic response to wind in a small elongated two-basin lake, Amisk Lake (Alberta, Canada). For the first vertical baroclinic mode, wind-forced horizontal modes were simulated using a dynamic two-layer variable cross-section (TVC) model. The first horizontal mode, H1, was found to dominate the exchange between the two basins of Amisk Lake. The highest velocities associated with H1 occurred in the constricted channel connecting the two basins. This high velocity led to strong damping which brought H1 in near-resonance with the diurnal wind despite a difference in periods. Along with H1, the second horizontal mode, H2, was detected at a thermistor mooring. The TVC showed that H2 resulted from the coupling between along-thalweg wind distribution and the bathymetry of Amisk Lake. The damping for H2 was found to be weaker than for H1, likely because of weaker bottom drag in the connecting channel. The evolution of vertical H1 modes were simulated using a multi-layered box model. In response to wind pulses, the first vertical mode V1H1 initially dominated over higher vertical modes causing two-layer exchange. Following the faster decay of V1H1, higher vertical modes shifted the exchange to three and more layers. Our study shows the importance of the coupling between wind stress distribution and lake bathymetry in exciting horizontal modes, reveals the effect of damping on resonance with wind, and explains the evolution of exchange associated with vertical modes.     

Late‐summer thermal regime of a small proglacial lake

This study was motivated by an interest in understanding the potential effects of climate change and glacier retreat on late summer water temperatures in alpine areas. Fieldwork was carried out between July and September 2007 at Place Lake, located below Place Glacier in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. Place Lake has an area of 72 000 m², a single inlet and outlet channel, and an approximate residence time of 4 days. Warming between the inlet and outlet of the lake ranged up to 3 °C and averaged 1.8 °C, which exceeds the amount of warming that occurred over the 1 km reach of Place Creek between the lake outlet and tree line. Over a 23‐day period, net radiation totalled about 210 MJ·m^–2, with sensible heat flux adding another 56 MJ m^‐2. The latent heat flux consumed about 8% of the surface heat input. The dominant heat sink was the net horizontal advection associated with lake inflow and outflow. Early in the study period, temperatures between the surface and 6‐m depth were dominantly at or above 4 °C and were generally neutral to thermally stable, whereas temperatures decreased with depth below 6 m and exhibited irregular sub‐diurnal variations. The maximum outflow temperature of almost 7 °C occurred in this period. We hypothesize that turbidity currents associated with cold, sediment‐laden glacier discharge formed an underflow and influenced temperatures in the deeper portion of the lake but did not mix with the upper layers. Later in the study period, the lake was dominantly well mixed with some near‐surface stability associated with nocturnal cooling. Further research is required to examine the combined effects of sediment concentrations and thermal processes on mixing in small proglacial lakes to make projections of the consequences of glacier retreat on alpine lake and stream temperatures. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Climate change and soil erosion in a small alpine lake basin on the Loess Plateau,China

Multi‐proxy indices retrieved from sediments in Lake Chaonaqiu, an alpine lake on the western Loess Plateau (LP) of China, were used to reconstruct a precipitation history over the last ~300 years. The results correlate well with records from tree rings and historical documents in neighboring regions. We show that the lake oscillated between two states, i.e. wetter climatic conditions, which favored denser vegetation cover, and promoted weaker catchment soil erosion; and drier climatic conditions, which lead to less vegetation coverage, correlate with stronger surface soil erosion. Several intensive soil erosion events were identified in the sediment cores, and most of these occurred during decadal/multi‐decadal dry periods, and correlate well with flood events documented in historical literature. The results of this study show that soil erosion by flood events is particularly intense during dry periods, and further highlights the role of vegetation cover in the conservation of water and soil in small lake basins on the Chinese LP. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial heterogeneity of diatom stratigraphy in varved and non-varved sediments of a small,boreal-forest lake

Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of recent diatom stratigraphy were assessed for a small (23 ha) dimictic lake in Northern Sweden (Kassjön). Varves are confined to water depths > 10 m. Six freeze cores were taken along a transect covering a range of water depths (3–12 m) and both varved and non-varved sediments. Core profiles were compared for dry mass accumulation, loss-on-ignition (LOI), and diatom relative frequency stratigraphy and accumulation rate. Excluding the 3.2 m water depth, non-varved core, all parameters showed good repeatability between cores, apart from diatom accumulation rates which were more variable. The 3.2 m core was atypical and had lower LOI values, low planktonic diatom percentages and high values of benthic taxa that were not abundant in the deep-water sediments. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) ordinations were compared; both methods clearly differentiated the shallow water core, and showed the general similar ecological trends of the deeper-water cores. CCA axes constrained by environmental (i. e. core location) data resulted in slightly lower eigenvalues than that obtained by Correspondence Analysis (CA), but the axes were significantly non-random. A Partial-CCA of the four varved cores alone (with effects of sediment depth, i.e. age, partialled out), indicated that there was no significant difference between their diatom assemblages.     

The water balance of a small lake using stable isotopes and tritium

A small maar lake, known as the Blue Lake, set in a karstic region of southeastern Australia, provides the municipal water supply for a population of 20,000. The lake has a volume of 3.6·10⁷m³, of which 10–15% is pumped from it each year. The lake is recharged almost entirely from groundwater and the main objective of this study was to estimate the total groundwater inflow and outflow rates. Estimation of groundwater throughflow in a lake is difficult to assess using classical hydrological techniques and an alternative method involving measurement of the concentrations of the environmental isotopes ³H, ¹⁸O, ²H and ¹⁴C in the lake water and in the recharging groundwater was used to establish the lake-water balance. The water-balance calculations indicated a total groundwater inflow to Blue Lake of between 5.0·10⁶ and 6.5·10⁶m³yr.⁻¹, corresponding to a residence time of water in the lake of 6 yr. It was not possible to derive the relative proportions of inflow to the lake from the two possible source aquifers, using these isotopes, because their concentrations did not show a sufficiently large contrast to distinguish the two water sources.     

Flow characteristics of a gravity current induced by differential cooling in a small lake

Extensive field data of a density current driven by the differences in the cooling rates between the two lobes of a small lake are presented. These data illustrate the fact that this gravitational motion affects the whole system and dominates its lakewide circulation. Moreover, data are used to evaluate the entrainment into the density current and also to discuss the regime of the flow from a scaling analysis of the horizontal momentum equations. This analysis is specifically applied to the central area of the lake, where the density current flows from one lobe to the other. Results of this study show that in the longitudinal direction there is a balance between the pressure gradient and the turbulent viscous term. Further, it is found that geostrophy correctly describes the transversal pattern of the passage of the gravity current from the northern lobe to the southern, where it flows confined to the western shoreline.     

Altered energy flow pathways in a lake ecosystem following manipulation of fish community structure

We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses to assess the relative contributions from pelagic and littoral energy sources to higher trophic levels in a lake ecosystem before and after a major food web perturbation. The food web structure of the lake was altered when the population sizes of the most abundant fish species (small perch, roach and bream) were reduced during an attempt to improve water quality by biomanipulation. Fish removal was followed by dense year classes of young fish, which subsequently increased the utilisation of pelagic resources. This was reflected as a decrease in relative energy contribution from littoral sources and also led to more distinct pelagic and littoral food chains after fish removal. Community metrics calculated from stable isotope data indicated increased trophic diversity and occupied niche area, and reduced trophic redundancy in the food web. However, only minor changes were observed in fish trophic positions, although roach and pike occupied slightly lower trophic positions after fish removal. Despite the Jyväsjärvi ecosystem becoming more dependent on pelagic energy after fish removals, the littoral energy contribution was still substantial, particularly to certain fish species. Hence, our results support recent arguments for the importance of benthic production in lake ecosystems. More generally, our results illustrate how large-scale perturbations of food web structure can alter energy flow patterns through an entire ecosystem.     

Comparison of 15 evaporation methods applied to a small mountain lake in the northeastern USA

Few detailed evaporation studies exist for small lakes or reservoirs in mountainous settings. A detailed evaporation study was conducted at Mirror Lake, a 0.15 km² lake in New Hampshire, northeastern USA, as part of a long-term investigation of lake hydrology. Evaporation was determined using 14 alternate evaporation methods during six open-water seasons and compared with values from the Bowen-ratio energy-budget (BREB) method, considered the standard. Values from the Priestley–Taylor, deBruin–Keijman, and Penman methods compared most favorably with BREB-determined values. Differences from BREB values averaged 0.19, 0.27, and 0.20 mm d⁻¹, respectively, and results were within 20% of BREB values during more than 90% of the 37 monthly comparison periods. All three methods require measurement of net radiation, air temperature, change in heat stored in the lake, and vapor pressure, making them relatively data intensive. Several of the methods had substantial bias when compared with BREB values and were subsequently modified to eliminate bias. Methods that rely only on measurement of air temperature, or air temperature and solar radiation, were relatively cost-effective options for measuring evaporation at this small New England lake, outperforming some methods that require measurement of a greater number of variables. It is likely that the atmosphere above Mirror Lake was affected by occasional formation of separation eddies on the lee side of nearby high terrain, although those influences do not appear to be significant to measured evaporation from the lake when averaged over monthly periods.     

Blue-green algae and fish population changes in a eutrophic estuary

Evidence is presented which indicates that dense blooms of the blue-green alga Nodularia spumigena have affected fish and crab populations in a large estuarine system in south-western Australia. For example, the numbers of fish were generally very low at sites in which the chlorophyll a level, an excellent indicator of Nodularia density during the late spring and summer, was above 100 μgl^?1. Moreover, commercial fishermen have recorded greatly reduced catches in Nodularia-affected areas and dead fish and crabs were found in regions where Nodularia was very dense. While the effects of this blue-green alga apparently led to death in the case of some bottom-living species in the most affected parts of the system, more active species moved into regions where Nodularia was virtually absent.     

Geochemical and biochemical evidence of lake overturn and fish kill at Lake Averno,Italy

Lake Averno is situated in the homonymous crater in the northwestern sector of the Campi Flegrei active volcanic system in Campania region, Italy. In February 2005 a fish kill event was observed in the lake, prompting a geochemical survey to ascertain the possible cause. In February 2005 a geochemical survey revealed that the lake water was unstratified chemically and isotopically, presumably, as a result of lake overturn. This fish kill phenomenon was recorded at least two other times in the past. In contrast to the February 2005 results, data collected in October 2005, shows the Lake Averno to be stratified, with an oxic epilimnion (surface to 6 m) and an anoxic hypolimnion (6 m to lake bottom at about 33 m).     

鱼类种群指数的定义和计算

本文在作者已建鱼类种群数学模型的基础上,进一步建立描述鱼类种群动态特征的各种指数及计算方法。