Abstract
One of the most pronounced and consistent patterns in freshwater lakes is that the biomasses of producers and consumers increase along a gradient of increased nutrient (phosphorous) loading. For example, phytoplankton biomass is positively correlated with total phosphorus concentration (Stockner and Shortreed 1985 and references therein), as is the biomass of Zooplankton (Hanson and Peters 1984; Pace 1984), and fish (Hanson and Leggett 1982). Given that the biomass of aquatic producers, herbivores, and carnivores each positively covaries with phosphorus loading, the abundances of adjacent trophic levels should also be positively correlated across productivity gradients. Indeed, such positive correlations between consumers and their resources are common; i.e., Zooplankton biomass is positively correlated with phytoplankton biomass (references in McQueen et al. 1986), plantivore density is positively related to Zooplankton biomass (Mills and Shiavone 1982), and fish density positively covaries with macrobenthos biomass (Hanson and Leggett 1982; Nakashima and Leggett 1975).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bagenal TB (1978) Aspects of fish fecundity. In: Gerking SD (ed) Ecology of freshwater fish production. Blackwell, Oxford.
Beyerle GB, Williams J (1972) Survival, growth, and production by bluegills subjected to population reduction in ponds. Michigan Dep Nat Resour Rep 273.
Briand F, Cohen JE (1987) Environmental correlates of food chain length. Science 238:956–959.
Carlander KD (1977) Handbook of freshwater fishery biology. Iowa State Univ Press, Ames.
Craig JF (1982) Population dynamics of Windermere perch. Freshwater Biol Assoc Annu Rep 50:49–59.
Hanson JM, Leggett WC (1982) Empirical prediction of fish biomass and yield. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 39:257–263.
Hanson JM, Peters RH (1984) Empirical prediction of crustacean zooplankton biomass and profundal macrobenthos biomass in lakes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 41:439–445.
Leibold MA (1988) Predation, competition, habitat structure and the structure of freshwater plankton communities. Thesis, Michigan State Univ, East Lansing.
McCauley E, Briand F (1979) Zooplankton grazing and phytoplankton species richness: field tests of the predation hypothesis. Limnol Oceanogr 24:243–252.
McQueen DJ, Post JR, Mills EL (1986) Trophic relationships in freshwater pelagic ecosystems. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 43:1571–1581.
Mills EL, Shiavone A (1982) Evaluation of fish communities through assessment of Zooplankton populations and measures of lake productivity. N Am J Fish Manag 2:14–27.
Mittelbach GG (1981) Foraging efficiency and body size: a study of optimal diet and habitat use by bluegills. Ecology 62:1370–1380.
Mittelbach GG (1983) Optimal foraging and growth in bluegills. Oecologia (Berlin) 59:157–162.
Mittelbach GG (1984) Predation and resource partitioning in two sunfishes (Centrarchidae). Ecology 65:499–513.
Mittelbach GG (1986) Predator-mediated habitat use: some consequences for species interactions. Environ Biol Fish 16:159–169.
Mittelbach GG (1988) Competition among refuging sunfishes and effects of fish density on littoral zone invertebrates. Ecology 69:614–623.
Mittelbach GG, Chesson PL (1987) Predation risk: indirect effects on fish populations. In: Kerfoot WC, Sih A (eds) Predation. Univ Press New Engl, Hanover, NH.
Nakashima BS, Leggett WC (1975) Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) biomass responses to different levels of phytoplankton and benthic biomass in Lake Memphremagog, Quebec-Vermont. J Fish Res Board Can 32(10):1785–1797.
Oksanen L, Fretwell SD, Arruda J, Niemela P (1981) Exploitation ecosystems in gradients of primary productivity. Am Nat 118:240–261.
Oliver JD, Holeton GF, KE Chua (1979) Overwintering mortality of fingerling smallmouth bass in relation to size, energy stores, and environmental temperature. Trans Am Fish Soc 108:130–136.
Osenberg CW (1988) Body size and the interaction of fish predation and food limitation in a freshwater snail community. Thesis, Michigan State Univ, East Lansing.
Osenberg CW, Werner EE, Mittelbach GG, Hall DJ (1988) Growth patterns in bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish: environmental variation and the importance of ontogenetic niche shifts. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 45:17–26.
Pace ML (1984) Zooplankton community structure, but not biomass, influences the phosphoruschlorophyll a relationship. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 41:1089–1096.
Persson L, Andersson G, Hamrin SF, Johansson L (1988) Predator regulation and primary productivity gradient of temperate lake ecosystems. In: Carpenter SR (ed) Complex interactions in lake communities. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo.
Phillips OM (1974) The equilibrium and stability of simple marine biological systems II. herbivores. Arch Hydrobiol 73(3):310–333.
Pimm SL (1982) Food webs. Chapman & Hall, London.
Rosenzweig ML (1971) Paradox of enrichment: destabilization of exploitation ecosystems in ecological time. Science 171:385–387.
Rosenzweig ML (1973) Exploitation in three trophic level. Am Nat 107:275–294.
Rosenzweig ML (1977) Aspects of biological exploitation. Q Rev Biol 52:371–380.
Rosenzweig ML, MacArthur RH (1963) Graphical representation and stability conditions of predatorprey interactions. Am Nat 97:209–223.
Smith FE (1969) Effects of enrichment in mathematical models. In: Eutrophication: causes, consequences, correctives. Nat Acad Sci, Washington, DC.
Stockner JG, Shortreed KS (1985) Whole lake fertilization experiments in coastal British Columbia lakes: empirical relationships between nutrient inputs and phytoplankton biomass and production. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 42:649–658.
Tschumy WO (1982) Competition between juveniles and adults in age-structured populations. Theor Popul Biol 21:255–268.
Walter CJ, Krause E, Neill WE, Northcote TG (1987) Equilibrium models for seasonal dynamics of plankton biomass in four oligotrophic lakes. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 44:1002–1017.
Ware DM (1975) Relation between egg size, growth, and natural mortality of larval fish. J Fish Res Board Can 32:2503–2512.
Werner EE (1986) Species interactions in freshwater fish communities. In: Diamond J, Case T (eds) Ecological communities. Harper & Row, New York.
Werner EE, Gilliam JF (1984) The ontogenetic niche and species interactions in size structured populations. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 15:393–426.
Werner EE, Hall DJ (1988) Ontogenetic habitat shifts in the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus): the foraging rate-predation risk tradeoff. Ecology 69:1352–1366.
Werner EE, Mittelbach GG, Hall DJ, Gilliam JF (1983) Experimental tests of optimal habitat use in fish: the role of relative habitat profitability. Ecology 64:1525–1539.
Wiegert RG (1977) Population models: experimental tools for analysis of ecosystems. In: Horn DJ, Stairs GR, Mitchell RD (eds) Analysis of ecological systems. Ohio State Univ Press, Columbus.
Wollkind DJ (1976) Exploitation in three trophic levels: an extension allowing intraspecies carnivore interaction. Am Nat 110:431–447.
Zaret TM (1980) Predation and freshwater communities. Yale Univ Press, New Haven.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Mittelbach, G.G., Osenberg, C.W., Leibold, M.A. (1988). Trophic Relations and Ontogenetic Niche Shifts in Aquatic Ecosystems. In: Ebenman, B., Persson, L. (eds) Size-Structured Populations. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74001-5_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74001-5_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74003-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74001-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive