Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

www.bc.cas.cz

Norwegian Institute for Nature Research

Predation by fish is the primary top-down structuring force in aquatic ecosystems, and a change in predator-prey interactions involving fish may cause a change in the strength of trophic cascades and finally result in ecosystem shifts. Submerged macrophytes play an important role beyond that of primary production, as they provide increased structural complexity and niche potentials for fish. However, most of the scientific attention on habitat use in fish and the influence of macrophytes have been given to small and shallow lakes, where the vegetated areas are well-developed and the availability of a large deep water refugium is absent or limited. Our goal is to gain a detailed understanding of the structuring effect the submerged macrophytes have on fish communities in deep lakes.

850 377 EUR