Published In

Ecosystems

Document Type

Post-Print

Publication Date

2008

Subjects

Zooplankton, Biotic communities, Lakes, Invasive species, Phytoplankton, Predation (Biology), Crustacea

Abstract

Bythotrephes longimanus is an invertebrate predator that has invaded the North American Great Lakes and a number of inland lakes, where it preys on crustacean zooplankton. We examined the effect of Bythotrephes on two measures of ecosystem function during a four month observational study of freshwater lakes on the boreal shield. Bythotrephes-invaded lakes had significantly lower epilimnetic zooplankton abundance and production compared to reference lakes. On average, Bythotrephes consumed 34% ofzooplankton production when it was present in lakes. There was some evidence of changes in the timing of zooplankton production, as well as shifts to cooler, less productive habitats, which may lessen the overall effect of the invader on the transfer of energy to higher trophic levels. We experimentally demonstrated a weak trophic cascade where invader predation reduced zooplankton biomass, and subsequently increased phytoplankton growth. However, the response was small in magnitude and not biologically relevant at the whole lake- scale. The most conspicuous effect of Bythotrephes that we measured was a diversion of energy away from native predators at higher trophic levels.

Rights

Copyright 2008 Springer.

Description

This is an author's manuscript whose final and definitive form has been published in Ecosystems.

The final publication is available at www.springerlink.com http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-008-9137-0

DOI

10.1007/s10021-008-9137-0

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/11549

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