US-Sweden Cooperative Research: Complex Interaction Among Fish Predators in Littoral Benthic Communities

该奖项将支持水生生物领域的合作研究 罗伊斯坦博士，俄亥俄州州立大学和 克里斯特·布朗马克博士，瑞典隆德大学。 的 拟议项目的目的是审查和 影响鱼类捕食者之间相互作用的评价 天然池塘的复杂环境。 斯坦博士目前正在进行一项大规模的实验 在北方威斯康星州的湖泊中研究捕食者的作用 在构建近岸社区方面。 使用实验室 实验，湖泊调查和大规模的近岸生态系统 实验（近岸部分被一个 威斯康星州的研究小组正在探索如何 生物和非生物因素影响着 沿岸的群落，包括掠食性鱼类，小龙虾， 蜗牛、附着生物和大型植物。这里生长着 瑞典隆德附近的小池塘， 底栖鱼类、蜗牛、附着生物和大型植物， 对捕食者的整个系统的操纵可以在没有 采用大的外壳。 相对于 威斯康星州的工作，工作建议瑞典，其中包括 池塘调查（以确定现场模式）和捕食者 操作（其中北方梭子鱼和丁鱼密度 治疗变量），将在更广泛的 鱼类捕食者如何直接或间接地 影响自然界中的蜗牛、附着生物和大型植物 池塘。 这项工作将直接测试营养级联 假设，最近适用于湖泊的浮游生物，但 在结构复杂的环境中基本上未经测试 底栖的、沿岸的群落。该项目将有利于 两名调查员的互补性专业知识。 Bronmark博士在以下方面具有丰富的经验： 蜗牛、附着生物和大型植物。斯坦医生的专业知识 在于量化鱼类之间的行为互动 捕食者和猎物之间的互动 由栖息地结构介导。

This award will support collaborative research in aquatic ecosystems between Dr. Roy Stein, Ohio State University and Dr. Christer Bronmark, University of Lund, Sweden. The objective of the proposed project is an examination and evaluation of interactions among fish predators which affect the >structurally.complex environment of natural ponds. Dr. Stein is currently carrying out a large scale experiment in the northern Wisconsin lakes to study the role of predators in structuring nearshore communities. Using laboratory experiments, lake surveys and a large.scale inshore mesocosm experiment (where portions of the nearshore are enclosed by a curtain), the Wisconsin research team is exploring how biotic and abiotic factors influence all facets of the littoral community, including predatory fishes, crayfish, snails, periphyton and macrophytes. Because of the abundance of small ponds near Lund, Sweden with piscivorous and benthivorous fishes, snails, periphyton and macrophytes, whole.system manipulations of predators can be done without resorting to the use of large enclosures. In contrast to the Wisconsin work, the work proposed for Sweden, which includes a pond survey (to qualify field patterns) and predator manipulations (where northern pike and tench densities are treatment variables), will evaluate in a more extensive fashion how fish predators interact to directly and indirectly influence snails, periphyton, and macrophytes in natural ponds. This work will directly test the trophic cascade hypothesis, recently applied to the pelagia of lakes, but largely untested in the structurally.complex environment of the benthic, littoral community. The project will benefit from the complementary expertise of the two investigators. Dr. Bronmark has extensive experience with interactions among snails, periphyton and macrophytes. Dr. Stein's expertise lies in quantifying the behavioral interactions between fish predators and their prey and how these interactions might be mediated by habitat structure.