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Effects of stream predator richness on the prey community and ecosystem attributes

  • Community Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

It is important to understand the role that different predators can have to be able to predict how changes in the predator assemblage may affect the prey community and ecosystem attributes. We tested the effects of different stream predators on macroinvertebrates and ecosystem attributes, in terms of benthic algal biomass and accumulation of detritus, in artificial stream channels. Predator richness was manipulated from zero to three predators, using two fish and one crayfish species, while density was kept equal (n = 6) in all treatments with predators. Predators differed in their foraging strategies (benthic vs. drift feeding fish and omnivorous crayfish) but had overlapping food preferences. We found effects of both predator species richness and identity, but the direction of effects differed depending on the response variable. While there was no effect on macroinvertebrate biomass, diversity of predatory macroinvertebrates decreased with increasing predator species richness, which suggests complementarity between predators for this functional feeding group. Moreover, the accumulation of detritus was affected by both predator species richness and predator identity. Increasing predator species richness decreased detritus accumulation and presence of the benthic fish resulted in the lowest amounts of detritus. Predator identity (the benthic fish), but not predator species richness had a positive effect on benthic algal biomass. Furthermore, the results indicate indirect negative effects between the two ecosystem attributes, with a negative correlation between the amount of detritus and algal biomass. Hence, interactions between different predators directly affected stream community structure, while predator identity had the strongest impact on ecosystem attributes.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants from the Oscar and Lilli Lamms Minne foundation to P. Nyström and the Royal Swedish Physiographical Society to E. Nilsson and K. Olsson. A. Persson was funded by the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning. T. Fagerberg, P. Stenroth and two anonymous referees gave valuable comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. A. Eklöv and the angling club Södra Sveriges Sportfiskeklubb hosted the experimental set up at the old mill channel in Håstad. M. Rasmussen and M. Stenberg assisted with sampling. The experiments comply with current national laws (ethical permit M113-05).

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  1. Department of Ecology/Limnology, Lund University, Ecology Building, 223 62, Lund, Sweden

    Erika Nilsson, Karin Olsson, Anders Persson, Per Nyström, Gustav Svensson & Ulf Nilsson

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  1. Erika Nilsson
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  2. Karin Olsson
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  3. Anders Persson
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  4. Per Nyström
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  5. Gustav Svensson
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  6. Ulf Nilsson
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Correspondence to Erika Nilsson.

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Communicated by Volkmar Wolters.

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Nilsson, E., Olsson, K., Persson, A. et al. Effects of stream predator richness on the prey community and ecosystem attributes. Oecologia 157, 641–651 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1097-8

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