Hydrobiology, Volume 4, Issue 2 (June 2025) – 3 articles

Because animals threatened by visually oriented predators may respond in sun-lit daytime but not at night, invertebrate responses to predatory challenges may yield varying results based on the time period within the 24 h daily cycle. We predicted that in laboratory experiments aquatic isopods exposed to kairomones from predatory fish would spend more time immobilized in daylight to avoid detection than those not exposed to kairomones but that this difference would disappear under the cover of nighttime darkness. We further predicted that isopods in the absence of kairomones would move at elevated rates in the daytime compared with night, seeking a precautionary proximity to shelters. However, contrary to our predictions, Caecidotea communis isopods exhibited consistent activity (movement rate and proportion of time spent moving) when exposed to kairomones or in the absence of such cues, at all of the three diurnal cycle periods examined. Thus, Caecidotea communis displayed cathemerality (sometimes called metaturnality), the first documented case of this behavior in crustaceans. Full article

Cold-water lakes in high-latitude regions are experiencing rapid changes in community structure and functioning associated with local and global stressors (e.g., climate change, hydropower and invasive species). However, the long-term ecological responses of cold-adapted top predators are relatively poorly monitored despite their high importance for structuring ecological communities and for the provisioning of ecosystem services. We studied long-term changes (2010–2021) in the population structure and trophic niche of two cold-adapted coregonid fishes in oligotrophic Lake Osensjøen, southeastern Norway. Our gillnet surveys indicated that the whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) population declines simultaneously with the increasing population density of roach (Rutilus rutilus), whereas vendace (Coregonus albula) showed more stable densities. Both whitefish and vendace became increasingly dominated by small-sized individuals following the increase in coexisting roach and perch (Perca fluviatilis) populations. Our stomach content and stable isotope data indicated a marked overlap in the trophic niches of whitefish and roach, with both species showing high among-individual variation in δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values as compared to the more specialized zooplanktivorous vendace. Our study provides further evidence that the ongoing environmental changes in high-latitude lakes may induce rapid changes in community structures and lead to the population declines of cold-adapted fishes, likely associated with strong resource competition with warm-adapted cyprinid and percid fishes. Such shifts in fish community structure may, in turn, affect the benthic and pelagic food-web compartments and reduce valuable ecosystem services such as local fisheries targeting salmonids. Full article

Trace elemental water chemistry in aquatic systems is primarily derived from the underlying geology of surrounding watersheds. Trace elements can be absorbed from the environment and become permanently incorporated into certain calcified structures of fish. Comparison of the trace elemental chemistry of these structures with the chemical signature of water from the watershed in which a fish was captured can help identify movement patterns. The goal of this study was to create a relatively fine scale baseline for the trace elemental water chemistry of the Chattahoochee, Ocmulgee, Oconee, and Savannah rivers within the Piedmont ecoregion of Georgia, U.S., and to distinguish any trace elements that may be useful in delineating different reaches. Principal component analysis was used to analyze ratios of Ba:Ca, Mg:Ca, Mn:Ca, Na:Ca, and Sr:Ca from samples in each river. Results suggest that Ba:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios may be useful in delimiting river reaches in each system. In addition, Na:Ca and Mn:Ca ratios may have some utility in further differentiating reaches in the Chattahoochee and Savannah rivers, respectively. The ability of these elements to differentiate reaches within these rivers lends support for their utility in fish microchemistry studies to help better understand and manage fish in these systems. Full article