Life at turbulent sites : benthic communities in lake littorals interacting with abiotic and biotic constraints ; field and mesocosm investigations

Scheifhacken, Nicole

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Life at turbulent sites : benthic communities in lake littorals interacting with abiotic and biotic constraints ; field and mesocosm investigations

Type of Publication:	Dissertation
URI (citable link):	http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-opus-57347
Author:	Scheifhacken, Nicole
Year of publication:	2006
Title in another language:	Leben an turbulenten Orten: Benthische Gemeinschaften im Litoral von Seen in Wechselwirkung mit abiotischen und biotischen Umweltbedingungen
Summary:	The central issue of this doctoral thesis is an evaluation of abiotic and biotic constraints on benthic communities in lake littoral zones. The thesis concentrates on various aspects of hydrodynamics, i.e. wave exposure, as a major abiotic force within the upper eulittoral zone of a large lake and its potential influence on taxa occurrence and habitat parameters and further its interference with biotic interactions. The importance of another abiotic factor water level fluctuations for the benthic community within the upper eulittoral zone of unregulated pre-alpine lakes is also emphasised. The thesis summarises results from standardised field, enclosure and mesocosm experiments and from a field sampling at Lake Constance, a large pre-alpine lake. In order to understand the impact of abiotic disturbance processes, the colonisation abilities of macroinvertebrates were studied under field conditions. The effects of wave propagation and dissipation on behaviour and growth of the herbivorous snail Radix ovata were studied within an outdoor mesocosm deployed with a newly developed pneumatic wave machine. The determination of benthic variability was the central focus of a one-year field study at three representative sites. The understanding of the mechanism influencing the spatial and temporal patterns of benthic communities is an important background information on the system itself. The present work involves two studies with emphasis on predator prey interactions between benthivorous fish and their macroinvertebrate food source. The predation impact of the most abundant fish taxa in Lake Constance, perch (Perca fluviatilis) and ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernuus), as well as of juvenile cyprinids [dace (Leuciscus leuciscus), bream (Abramis brama, Blicca bjoerkna)] were studied in enclosure experiments. Despite the direct impact of fish on benthic variability, wave exposure was expected to interfere with such food web interactions.
Summary in another language:	Die Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit den Wechselwirkungen von benthischen Lebensgemeinschaften und ihrer abiotischen und biotischen Umwelt im Litoral von Seen. In der Arbeit werden verschiedene Aspekte des Einflusses von Hydrodynamik im Sinne von Wellenexposition als wichtigstem abiotischen Faktor im oberen Eulittoral von großen Seen untersucht. Die Auswirkungen von Hydrodynamik auf das Vorhandensein von Taxa und die Veränderung von Habitateigenschaften werden beleuchtet. Ferner wird ihr Einfluss auf biotische Interaktionen untersucht. Die Bedeutung von Wasserstandsschwankungen im oberen Eulittoral als einem weiteren abiotischen Faktor für die benthische Lebensgemeinschaft in einem unregulierten voralpinen See wird herausgestellt. Die Dissertation fasst die Ergebnisse aus standardisierten Freiland-, Enclosure- und Mesokosmos-Experimenten und einer Freilandstudie im Bodensee, einem großen voralpinen See, zusammen. Um den Einfluss und die Wirkung abiotischer Störungsprozesse zu verstehen, wurde die Wiederbesiedlung durch Makro¬inverte¬braten nach Störungen im Freiland analysiert. Die Auswirkungen von Wellenschlag auf das Verhalten und Wachstum der herbivoren Schnecke Radix ovata wurde mit Hilfe einer neu entwickelten Wellenmaschine im Meso¬kosmos untersucht. Die Bestimmung der benthischen Variabilität an drei repräsentativen Uferbereichen war der Schwerpunkt einer einjährigen Freilandstudie. Diese half die zugrundeliegenden Mechanismen zu verstehen, welche die räumlichen und zeitlichen Muster benthischer Gemeinschaften beeinflussen und liefert damit wichtige Hintergrundinformationen zum Verständnis des untersuchten Systems. Die vorliegende Arbeit umfasst weiterhin zwei Studien mit Schwerpunkt auf Räuber-Beute-Interaktionen zwischen benthivoren Fischen und ihrer benthischen Nahrungsgrundlage. Der Einfluss von Prädation durch die häufigsten Fischarten im Bodensee, Barsch (Perca fluviatilis) und Kaulbarsch (Gymnocephalus cernuus), sowie juvenile Cypriniden [Hasel (Leuciscus leuciscus), Brachse (Abramis brama, Blicca bjoerkna)] wurde in Enclosure-Experimenten untersucht. Neben dem direkten Fraßdruck auf die benthische Variabilität wurde die Wellenexponiertheit einzelner Standorte in ihrer Auswirkung auf die Interaktionen im Nahrungsnetzgefüge analysiert.
Examination date (for dissertations):	Jul 28, 2006
Dissertation note:	Doctoral dissertation, University of Konstanz
Subject (DDC):	570 Biosciences, Biology
Controlled Keywords (GND):	Litoral, Benthos, Hydrodynamik, Wasserwelle, Räuber-Beute-Verhältnis, Mesokosmos, Schnecken, Fische, Bodensee
Keywords:	Makroinvertebrate, Räumliche Verteilung, Wellenmaschine, Enclosure-Experiment, Wasserstandsschwankungen, Wind- und Wellenexponiertheit, lake littoral, macroinvertebrate, hydrodynamics, wave mesocosm, water level fluctuation, predator-prey-interaction, recolonisation, gastropoda
Link to License:	Terms of use

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SCHEIFHACKEN, Nicole, 2006. Life at turbulent sites : benthic communities in lake littorals interacting with abiotic and biotic constraints ; field and mesocosm investigations [Dissertation]. Konstanz: University of Konstanz

@phdthesis{Scheifhacken2006turbu-6699, title={Life at turbulent sites : benthic communities in lake littorals interacting with abiotic and biotic constraints ; field and mesocosm investigations}, year={2006}, author={Scheifhacken, Nicole}, address={Konstanz}, school={Universität Konstanz} }

application/pdf Life at turbulent sites : benthic communities in lake littorals interacting with abiotic and biotic constraints ; field and mesocosm investigations Scheifhacken, Nicole Scheifhacken, Nicole terms-of-use Leben an turbulenten Orten: Benthische Gemeinschaften im Litoral von Seen in Wechselwirkung mit abiotischen und biotischen Umweltbedingungen 2011-03-24T17:28:29Z The central issue of this doctoral thesis is an evaluation of abiotic and biotic constraints on benthic communities in lake littoral zones. The thesis concentrates on various aspects of hydrodynamics, i.e. wave exposure, as a major abiotic force within the upper eulittoral zone of a large lake and its potential influence on taxa occurrence and habitat parameters and further its interference with biotic interactions. The importance of another abiotic factor water level fluctuations for the benthic community within the upper eulittoral zone of unregulated pre-alpine lakes is also emphasised. The thesis summarises results from standardised field, enclosure and mesocosm experiments and from a field sampling at Lake Constance, a large pre-alpine lake.<br />In order to understand the impact of abiotic disturbance processes, the colonisation abilities of macroinvertebrates were studied under field conditions. The effects of wave propagation and dissipation on behaviour and growth of the herbivorous snail Radix ovata were studied within an outdoor mesocosm deployed with a newly developed pneumatic wave machine. The determination of benthic variability was the central focus of a one-year field study at three representative sites. The understanding of the mechanism influencing the spatial and temporal patterns of benthic communities is an important background information on the system itself.<br />The present work involves two studies with emphasis on predator prey interactions between benthivorous fish and their macroinvertebrate food source. The predation impact of the most abundant fish taxa in Lake Constance, perch (Perca fluviatilis) and ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernuus), as well as of juvenile cyprinids [dace (Leuciscus leuciscus), bream (Abramis brama, Blicca bjoerkna)] were studied in enclosure experiments. Despite the direct impact of fish on benthic variability, wave exposure was expected to interfere with such food web interactions. eng 2011-03-24T17:28:29Z 2006