Abstract
The effect of fish removal on the invertebrate fauna associatedwith Stratiotes aloides was studied in a shallow, eutrophiclake. The biomass of invertebrate predators was approximately 2.5times higher in the invertebrate-dominated year (1992) than in thefish-dominated year (1991), while the density of non-predatoryinvertebrates in 1991 was ca half that in theinvertebrate-dominated year. The decrease was due to a sharp fallin the density of epiphytic chironomids, with the density ofplant-mining chironomids being far less affected. Marked declinesin the density of non-predatory invertebrates in theinvertebrate-dominated year were most probably caused byinvertebrate predators. Once freed from suppression induced byfish, invertebrate predators were able to control the density ofepiphytic prey more effectively than fish.
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Prejs, A., Koperski, P. & Prejs, K. Food-web manipulation in a small, eutrophic Lake Wirbel, Poland: the effect of replacement of key predators on epiphytic fauna. Hydrobiologia 342, 377–381 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017095508464
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017095508464