Introduced Fish in Northeastern USA Lakes: Regional Extent, Dominance, and Effect on Native Species Richness

Whittier, Thomas R.; Kincaid, Thomas M.

doi:10.1577/1548-8659(1999)128<0769:ifinul>2.0.co;2

Cited by 79 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Introduced largemouth bass have altered native fish communities, lowering both the species richness and abundance of native fish because of predation (Whitter and Kincaid 1999;Takahashi et al 2001;Azuma and Motomura 1998;Yonekura et al 2003;Jang et al 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

Size-dependent ontogenetic diet shifts to piscivory documented from stable isotope analyses in an introduced population of largemouth bass

et al. 2011

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Piscivorous largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) have been introduced in several regions outside of their native range in North America, resulting in significant disturbance to native fish communities. This species exhibits an ontogenetic diet shift from zooplanktivory to piscivory as juveniles. An early switch to piscivory allows 0+ bass to increase their growth rate prior to winter, resulting in reduced mortality. However, little is known about the dietary switch at the population level during the first year. We used carbon stable isotope analyses to examine the diets of age 0+ individuals in Lake Izunuma, Japan. The onset of the shift to piscivory occurred at a smaller size than in native or other nonnative areas [>40 mm total length (TL)]. We found a positive correlation between TL and δ 13 C throughout summer and autumn. Small individuals had δ 13 C values that were similar to those of zooplankton, whereas large individuals had δ 13 C values that were similar to those of cyprinid prey species. This suggests that the smaller 0+ individuals remain zooplanktivorous until late autumn, whereas the larger individuals shift to piscivory as early as June, soon after the breeding season ends. Our results also suggest that a significant number of 0+ bass failed to switch to piscivory until the winter of their first year, despite the smaller size threshold for the onset of piscivory.

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confidence: 99%

Size-dependent ontogenetic diet shifts to piscivory documented from stable isotope analyses in an introduced population of largemouth bass

et al. 2011

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“…They were first introduced into Japan during the late 19th to early 20th century from the United States (Azuma 1992;Yuma et al 1998). These exotic species can significantly affect the community structure of aquatic organisms through predation and competition for food, altering nutrient and energy flows in lentic ecosystems (Whittier and Kincaid 1999;Schindler and Scheuerell 2002;Maezono and Miyashita 2003). For instance, the location of largemouth bass at the top of the food-chain has driven some of the native fish populations to go extinct in a number of locales (Takamura 2007).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species richness of exotic and endangered fishes in Japan’s reservoirs

Han

Fukushima

2008

Environ Biol Fish

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We analyzed the patterns of total, endangered and exotic fish species richness in 80 reservoirs throughout Japan using Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) with variables of dam characteristics (e.g. reservoir size, isolated period, altitude, DO, pH, rainfall, and air temperature) and watershed characteristics (e.g. watershed area, human population, and land-use patterns). Exotic species richness was positively correlated with total species richness but negatively correlated with endangered species richness. Largemouth bass, rainbow trout, and bluegill were the three most widely distributed species, occupying 47.5, 37.5, and 33.8% of the reservoirs, respectively. The patterns of total and endangered species richness were largely explained by watershed area and annual air temperature. Exotic species richness was determined primarily by the proportion of developed areas within each watershed. Therefore, reservoirs in more developed areas tend to support more exotic fish species that in turn threaten endangered fish species more severely.

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“…Stream gradient is related to fish presence in other mountainous regions [e.g. Alaska (Hershey et al, 1999), Finland (Tonn et al, 1990)], and other studies in northeastern North America have shown negative correlation between lake altitude and native and introduced fish species richness (Whittier & Kincaid, 1999). In general, mountain lakes lacking fish tend to be located in small, high-altitude catchments and have basins Table 4 Predicted probabilities of current and historical fish absence in eastern and western model validation lakes.…”

Section: Western Lake Predictions and Model Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 98%

Predicting the locations of naturally fishless lakes

Schilling

Loftin

Degoosh³

et al. 2008

Freshwater Biology

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Fish have been introduced into many previously fishless lakes throughout NorthAmerica over the past 100+ years. It is difficult to determine the historical distribution of fishless lakes, however, because these introductions have not always been welldocumented. 2. Due to its glacial history and low human population density, the state of Maine (U.S.A.) may host the greatest number of naturally fishless lakes in the northeastern United States. However, less than one-quarter of Maine's 6000+ lakes have been surveyed for fish presence, and no accurate assessments of either the historical or current abundance and distribution of fishless lakes exist. 3. We developed methods to assess the abundance and distribution of Maine's naturally fishless lakes (0.6-10.1 ha). We hypothesized that the historical distribution of fishless lakes across a landscape is controlled by geomorphic and geographic conditions. 4. We used ArcGIS to identify landscape-scale geomorphic and geographic factors (e.g. connectivity, surrounding slope) correlated with fish absence in two geomorphic regions of Maine -the western and interior mountains and the eastern lowlands and foothills. By using readily available geographic information systems data our method was not limited to field-visited sites. We estimated the likelihood that a particular lake is fishless with a stepwise logistic regression model developed for each region. 5. The absence of fish from western lakes is related to altitude (+), minimum percent slope in the 500 m buffer (+), maximum percent slope in the 500 m buffer (+) and percent cover of herbaceous-emergent wetland in 1000 m buffer ()). The absence of fish from eastern lakes is related to the lack of a stream within 50 m of the lake. 6. The models predict that a total of 4% (131) of study lakes in the two regions were historically fishless, with the eastern region hosting a greater proportion than the western region. 7. We verified the model predictions with two complementary approaches. First we visited 21 lakes predicted to be fishless and assessed current fish presence with gillnetting. Second, we used paleolimnological techniques based on the abundance of Chaoborus americanus mandibles in the bottom segments of sediment cores. Fifteen of the 21 lakes predicted to be fishless currently contain fish. Paleolimnological evidence, however, suggests that nine of the 15 lakes were historically fishless and thus were subject to undocumented fish introductions. 8. Our approach efficiently predicts the distribution Maine's naturally fishless lakes, and our results indicate that these habitats have declined due to fish introductions. Our method could be applied to other regions with similar geographic and geomorphic constraints on fish distributions as a tool to enhance conservation of a limited resource that provides habitat for unique biological communities.

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Introduced Fish in Northeastern USA Lakes: Regional Extent, Dominance, and Effect on Native Species Richness

Cited by 79 publications

References 20 publications

Size-dependent ontogenetic diet shifts to piscivory documented from stable isotope analyses in an introduced population of largemouth bass

Size-dependent ontogenetic diet shifts to piscivory documented from stable isotope analyses in an introduced population of largemouth bass

Species richness of exotic and endangered fishes in Japan’s reservoirs

Predicting the locations of naturally fishless lakes

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