Comparison of the impact of native and invasive omnivorous fish on plankton and benthic algae communities, water quality, and submerged macrophytes

Date

2025-01-01

Author

Razlutskij, Vladimir
Mei, Xueying
Tang, Yali
Maisak, Natallia
Karpaeva, Anastasiya
Goncharik, Ruslan G.
Jeppesen, Erik
Zhang, Xiufeng

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Shallow lakes are often rich in submerged macrophytes that play an important role in the functioning of shallow lake ecosystems. Omnivorous fish can intensify eutrophication by enhancing the growth of phytoplankton, leading to higher water turbidity and light attenuation with subsequent negative effects on the growth of submerged macrophytes. However, the effects of different omnivorous fish species on aquatic ecosystem are not necessarily the same. A 70-day outdoor experiment was conducted in mesocosms containing meadow-forming arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia Linnaeus, 1753) and canopy-forming clasping leaf pondweed (Potamogeton perfoliatus Linnaeus, 1753) to test the hypothesis that two different species of omnivorous fish, the native species rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus, 1758) and the invasive Prussian carp (Carassius auratus (Linnaeus, 1758), have different effects on plankton and benthic algae communities, water quality, and submerged macrophyte growth. Both fish species increased the phytoplankton biomass and the concentrations of total and inorganic suspended solids and decreased water transparency, with Prussian carp having a stronger effect than rudd. The fish also changed the phytoplankton composition and decreased the densities of zooplankton, except for rotifers that were most pronouncedly impacted by Prussian carp. Rudd decreased the dry weight of the above-ground parts of arrowhead and pondweed roots, while Prussian carp decreased the biomass of the whole pondweed. Canonical analyses showed that the impact of all studied factors on pondweed growth was 2.6 times greater in the Prussian carp treatments. Our findings thus showed differential effects of the two omnivorous fish species on plankton communities, water quality, and submerged macrophytes, with Prussian carp having a stronger impact than rudd.

Subject Keywords

Freshwater ecosystem, Nutrients, Prussian carp, Rudd, Water plants

URI

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85212411641&origin=inward
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/113129

Collections

Department of Biology, Article