The Trophic Ecology of Freshwater Gammarus Spp. (Crustacea: Amphipoda): Problems and Perspectives Concerning the Functional Feeding Group Concept

MacNeil, Calum; Dick, Jaimie T. A.; Elwood, Robert W.

doi:10.1017/s0006323196005038

Cited by 362 publications

(285 citation statements)

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“…Gammarus is traditionally considered a littoral-benthic species, and its influence on the pelagic system is relatively not well known (MacNeil et al 1997). Wilhelm and Schindler (1999) and Kelly et al (2002) have shown that Gammarus can live in a pelagic zone and play part in the trophic chain here.…”

Section: Gammarus Lacustris: Its Adaptations To Living In Pelagic Zonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertical stratification of physical, chemical and biological components in two saline lakes Shira and Shunet (South Siberia, Russia)

et al. 2010

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A feature of meromictic lakes is that several physicochemical and biological gradients affect the vertical distribution of different organisms. The vertical stratification of physical, chemical and biological components in saline, fishless meromictic lakes Shira and Shunet (Siberia, Russia) is quite different mainly because both mean depth and maximum depth of lakes differ as well as their salinity levels differ. The chemocline of the Lake Shira, as in many meromictic lakes, is inhabited by bacterial community consisting of purple sulphur and heterotrophic bacteria. As the depth of the chemocline is variable, the bacterial community does not attain high densities. The mixolimnion in Lake Shira, which is thermally stratified in summer, also creates different habitat for various species. The distribution of phytoplankton is non-uniform with its biomass peak in the metalimnion. The distribution of zooplankton is also heterogeneous with rotifers and juvenile copepods inhabiting the warmer epilimnion and older copepods found in the cold but oxic hypolimnion. The amphipod Gammarus lacustris which can be assigned to the higher trophic link in the fishless lake's ecosystem, such as Lake Shira, is also distributed non-uniformly, with its peak density generally observed in the thermocline region. The chemocline in Lake Shunet is located at the depth of 5 m, and unlike in Lake Shira, due to a sharp salinity gradient between the mixolimnion and monimolimnion, this depth is very stable. The mixolimnion in Lake Shunet is relatively shallow and the chemocline is inhabited by (1) an extremely dense bacterial community; (2) a population of Cryptomonas sp.; and (3) ciliate community comprising several species. As the mixolimnion of Lake Shunet is not thermally stratified for long period, the phytoplankton and zooplankton populations are not vertically stratified. The gammarids, however, tend to concentrate in a narrow layer located 1-2 m above the chemocline. We believe that in addition to vertical inhomogeneities of both physicochemical parameters, biological and physical factors also play a role in maintaining these inhomogeneities. We conclude that the 123Aquat Ecol (2010) 44:619-632 DOI 10.1007 stratified distributions of the major food web components will have several implications for ecosystem structure and dynamics. Trophic interactions as well as mass and energy flows can be significantly impacted by such heterogeneous distributions. Species spatially separated even by relatively short distances, say a few centimetres will not directly compete. Importantly, we demonstrate that not only bacteria, phytoflagellates and ciliate tend to concentrate in thin layers but also larger-sized species such Gammarus (amphipods) can also under certain environmental conditions have stratified distribution with maxima in relatively thin layer. As the vertical structure of the lake ecosystem is rather complex in such stratified lakes as ours, the strategy of research, including sampling techniques, should consider potentially var...

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Section: Gammarus Lacustris: Its Adaptations To Living In Pelagic Zonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertical stratification of physical, chemical and biological components in two saline lakes Shira and Shunet (South Siberia, Russia)

et al. 2010

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“…(MacNeil et al, 1997), exudates of a top predator and/or conspecific alarm substances may contain ambiguous information not only on the predation risk, but also on the vicinity of a potential food source, as postulated (though not demonstrated) by Paterson et al (2013). This phenomenon, however, has not been fully confirmed by experimental studies yet.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Predator diet, origin or both? Factors determining responses of omnivorous amphipods to predation cues

Jermacz

Dzierżyńska‐Białończyk

Kobak

2016

Hydrobiologia

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Detection of chemical cues of predators and food resources is a key for the behaviour of many species in aquatic ecosystems. We checked whether predator origin and diet, containing potential food and/ or alarm signals, affect the behaviour of omnivorous prey partly sharing their diet with a top predator. We conducted y-maze experiments to study the responses of invasive omnivorous and cannibalistic amphipods (Dikerogammarus villosus and Pontogammarus robustoides) to chemical cues of fish predators, injured amphipods and chironomid larvae (common amphipod food). As the predators, we used the goby Babka gymnotrachelus (sympatric with the amphipods) and piranha Pygocentrus nattereri (allopatric to the amphipods). The fish were either starved or fed amphipods or chironomids. D. villosus preferred predators fed chironomids and conspecifics as well as crushed conspecifics and chironomids, but avoided both hungry predators. Thus, D. villosus may perceive the presence of a top predator as an indication of both food resource and predation risk. P. robustoides avoided predators fed both amphipods (particularly conspecifics) and their alarm substances. The responses of both species depended more on the predator diet than on its species, which is likely to facilitate the recognition of allopatric predators and survival in newly invaded areas.

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“…Due to their gregariousness and omnivorous feeding habits with strong inclinations for predation, they considerably affect local communities, changing their abundances and taxonomic composition (MacNeil et al, 1997;Berezina & Panov, 2003;Devin et al, 2003). In particular, they exclude native gammarid populations from their preferred habitats by intraguild predation, intraspecific competition and indirect impact on food webs (Arbaciauskas, 2002;Berezina & Panov, 2003;Kley & Maier, 2006;van Riel et al, 2007;MacNeil et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) periostracum and biofilm cues on habitat selection by a Ponto-Caspian amphipod Dikerogammarus haemobaphes

et al. 2012

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Dikerogammarus haemobaphes is one of several Ponto-Caspian gammarids invading Europe in recent decades. Previously, it exhibited active preferences for habitats associated with another Ponto-Caspian alien, zebra mussel. Now we tested gammarid preferences for living mussels and their empty shells with biofilm and/or periostracum present or absent, to find the exact cues driving gammarid responses. We observed a strong preference of gammarids for biofilmed shells, even if the biofilm was relatively young (2-day old). However, the biofilm quality, related to the substratum on which it had developed (shells with or without the periostracum, or coated with nail varnish) did not affect their behaviour. In the absence of biofilm, gammarids positively responded to the shell periostracum. Furthermore, they clearly preferred living zebra mussels over old empty shells, independent of the presence or absence of biofilm, confirming the importance of a periostracum-associated cue in their substratum recognition. On the other hand, shells obtained shortly after mussels' death were preferred over living bivalves. Thus, the attractant is associated with fresh mussel shells, rather than with living mussels themselves. The ability of alien gammarids to locate sites inhabited by zebra mussels may contribute to their invasion success in novel areas inhabited by this habitat-forming bivalve.

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The Trophic Ecology of Freshwater Gammarus Spp. (Crustacea: Amphipoda): Problems and Perspectives Concerning the Functional Feeding Group Concept

Cited by 362 publications

References 0 publications

Vertical stratification of physical, chemical and biological components in two saline lakes Shira and Shunet (South Siberia, Russia)

Vertical stratification of physical, chemical and biological components in two saline lakes Shira and Shunet (South Siberia, Russia)

Predator diet, origin or both? Factors determining responses of omnivorous amphipods to predation cues

The impact of zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) periostracum and biofilm cues on habitat selection by a Ponto-Caspian amphipod Dikerogammarus haemobaphes

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