Biological invasion by a benthivorous fish reduced the cover and species richness of aquatic plants in most lakes of a large North American ecoregion
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
| Veröffentlicht in: | Global change biology. - 1999. - 22(2016), 12 vom: 02. Dez., Seite 3937-3947 |
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| 1. Verfasser: | |
| Weitere Verfasser: | , , , , |
| Format: | Online-Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2016
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| Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk: | Global change biology |
| Schlagworte: | Journal Article Cyprinus carpio biodiversity common carp ecological impact ecological threshold ecosystem function macrophytes non-native |
| Zusammenfassung: | © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Biological invasions are projected to be the main driver of biodiversity and ecosystem function loss in lakes in the 21st century. However, the extent of these future losses is difficult to quantify because most invasions are recent and confounded by other stressors. In this study, we quantified the outcome of a century-old invasion, the introduction of common carp to North America, to illustrate potential consequences of introducing non-native ecosystem engineers to lakes worldwide. We used the decline in aquatic plant richness and cover as an index of ecological impact across three ecoregions: Great Plains, Eastern Temperate Forests and Northern Forests. Using whole-lake manipulations, we demonstrated that both submersed plant cover and richness declined exponentially as carp biomass increased such that plant cover was reduced to <10% and species richness was halved in lakes in which carp biomass exceeded 190 kg ha-1 . Using catch rates amassed from 2000+ lakes, we showed that carp exceeded this biomass level in 70.6% of Great Plains lakes and 23.3% of Eastern Temperate Forests lakes, but 0% of Northern Forests lakes. Using model selection analysis, we showed that carp was a key driver of plant species richness along with Secchi depth, lake area and human development of lake watersheds. Model parameters showed that carp reduced species richness to a similar degree across lakes of various Secchi depths and surface areas. In regions dominated by carp (e.g., Great Plains), carp had a stronger impact on plant richness than human watershed development. Overall, our analysis shows that the introduction of common carp played a key role in driving a severe reduction in plant cover and richness in a majority of Great Plains lakes and a large portion of Eastern Temperate Forests lakes in North America |
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| Beschreibung: | Date Completed 02.08.2017 Date Revised 02.12.2018 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1365-2486 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/gcb.13377 |