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journal article Open Access Dec 02, 2023

Escaping malnutrition by shifting habitats: A driver of three‐spined stickleback invasion in Lake Constance

Jan Baer ORCID Sabrina Ziegaus Mark Schumann ORCID Juergen Geist Alexander Brinker ORCID
Journal of Fish Biology Vol. 104 No. 3 pp. 746-757 · Wiley
View at Publisher Save 10.1111/jfb.15622
Abstract
AbstractFatty acids, and especially long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, are biologically important components in the metabolism of vertebrates, including fish. Essential fatty acids (EFA) are those that in a given animal cannot be synthesized or modified from precursors and must therefore be acquired via the diet. Because EFAs are often unevenly distributed in nature, this requirement may drive species to make behavioral or ecological adaptations to avoid malnutrition. This is especially true for fish like the three‐spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) of Upper Lake Constance (ULC), whose recent marine ancestors evolved with access to EFA‐rich prey, but which found themselves in an EFA‐deficient habitat. An unexpected and unprecedented ecological shift in the ULC stickleback population from the littoral to pelagic zones in 2012 might be linked to EFA availability, triggering ecological release and enabling them to build a hyperabundant population while displacing the former keystone species, the pelagic whitefish Coregonus wartmanni. To test this hypothesis, sticklebacks from the littoral and pelagic zones of ULC were sampled seasonally in two consecutive years, and their stomach contents and fatty acid profiles were analysed. Pelagic sticklebacks were found to possess significantly higher values of an important EFA, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), especially during autumn. Evaluation of the DHA supply suggests that sticklebacks feeding in the littoral zone during autumn could not meet their DHA requirement, whereas DHA availability in the pelagic zone was surplus to demand. During autumn, pelagic sticklebacks consumed large amounts of DHA‐rich prey, that is, copepods, whereas littoral sticklebacks relied mainly mostly on cladocerans, which provide much lower quantities of DHA. Access to pelagic zooplankton in 2012 was possibly facilitated by low densities of previously dominant zooplanktivorous whitefish. The present study offers a convincing physiological explanation for the observed expansion of invasive sticklebacks from the littoral to the pelagic zones of Lake Constance, contributing to a phase shift with severe consequences for fisheries.
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Metrics
6
Citations
61
References
Details
Published
Dec 02, 2023
Vol/Issue
104(3)
Pages
746-757
License
View
Authors
J
Jan Baer

Fisheries Research Station Baden‐Württemberg Langenargen Germany

S
Sabrina Ziegaus

Fisheries Research Station Baden‐Württemberg Langenargen Germany; Aquatic Systems Biology Unit, Department of Life Science Systems Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Life Sciences Freising Germany

M
Mark Schumann

Fisheries Research Station Baden‐Württemberg Langenargen Germany

J
Juergen Geist

Aquatic Systems Biology Unit, Department of Life Science Systems Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Life Sciences Freising Germany

A
Alexander Brinker

Fisheries Research Station Baden‐Württemberg Langenargen Germany; University of Constance Institute for Limnology Konstanz Germany

Cite This Article
Jan Baer, Sabrina Ziegaus, Mark Schumann, et al. (2023). Escaping malnutrition by shifting habitats: A driver of three‐spined stickleback invasion in Lake Constance. Journal of Fish Biology, 104(3), 746-757. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15622
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