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Ecological studies on the decomposition rate of fish carcasses by benthic organisms in the littoral zone of Lake Constance, Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2010

Katrin Premke ,
Philipp Fischer ,
Melanie Hempel  and
Karl-Otto Rothhaupt
Katrin Premke*
Affiliation:
University of Constance, Limnological Institute, Box M 659, D-78457 Constance, Germany
Philipp Fischer
Affiliation:
University of Constance, Limnological Institute, Box M 659, D-78457 Constance, Germany Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Helgoland, Kurpromenade, D-27498 Helgoland, Germany
Melanie Hempel
Affiliation:
University of Constance, Limnological Institute, Box M 659, D-78457 Constance, Germany
Karl-Otto Rothhaupt
Affiliation:
University of Constance, Limnological Institute, Box M 659, D-78457 Constance, Germany
*
*Corresponding author: katrin.premke@ebc.uu.se
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Abstract

Using field experiments, we investigated the effects of fish carcasses (so called ‘food falls') on benthic fauna. We simulated food falls using freshly killed fish during two different seasons (spring and summer) in the littoral zone of a large, pre-alpine meso-oligotrophic lake in central Europe (Lake Constance, Germany). This study provides evidence that input in the form of fish carcasses may play an important role in nutrient dynamics within this ecosystem. The benthic communities in the vicitinity and underneath the food fall were strongly influenced by the food fall. The results show that this supply of organic matter has a significant influence on the relationships within the communities, which are clearly dominated by bacteria, followed by copepod nauplii, cyclopoid copepods, chironomids, and ostracods. Total decomposition was obtained between days 80 and 68 of the experiments. The food fall had a positively but not significant effect on meiofaunal assemblages in these experiments. Furthermore, the results showed a negative relationship between bacteria and meiofauna abundance, indicating grazing by the meiobenthos on the bacterial community. These findings support other studies that found that the meiofauna exerted a grazing pressure on the microbial community, where this process was important in the decomposition of carcasses. Moreover, this study shows the potential importance of fish carcasses in Lake Constance, where food falls may generate high abundances and diversity of the benthic fauna and support high bacterial activities in this littoral ecosystem.

Keywords

Pelagic-benthic couplingdecompositionmeiofaunabacteriafish carcasses
Type
Research Article
Information
Annales de Limnologie - International Journal of Limnology , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , 2010 , pp. 157 - 168
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2010

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