Impact of the historical introduction of exotic fishes on the chironomid community of Lake Azul (Azores Islands)

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Impact of the historical introduction of exotic fishes on the chironomid community of Lake Azul (Azores Islands)Autor(es)
Fecha
2017Cita bibliográfica
Raposeiro, P.M., Rubio, M.J., González, A., Hernández, A., Sánchez-López, G., Vázquez-Loureiro, D., Rull, V., Bao, R., Costa, A.C., Gonçalves, V., Sáez, A., Giralt, S., 2017. Impact of the historical introduction of exotic fishes on the chironomid community of Lake Azul (Azores Islands). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 466, 77-88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.11.015
Resumen
Little is known about the effect of top predator introduction in historically fishless communities, especially
on remote islands. This issue is important because it might strongly affect climate reconstructions derived
from biota assemblages such as chironomids. Head capsule larval remains of chironomids have been studied
in a 660 years lacustrine sedimentary sequence from Lake Azul (Sao Miguel Island, Azores archipelago) to
assess the extent and timescale of the effect of the predator introduction occurring in this historically fishless
lake. Analysis of similarity showed that the chironomid assemblage was statistically different before and
after predator introduction (R = 0.78; p < 0.001). Abundance of chironomids was about 40% greater in the
fishless lake period compared to the period in the presence of predator. Results show major change in
chironomid assemblage coinciding with the first time of goldfish introduction (around 1790 CE), followed
by carp (1890 CE) and pike (1979 CE) introductions. The composition of feeding group guilds changed
following a pattern characterized by a decrease in abundance of detritivorous and predaceous taxa and an
increase in abundance of grazing chironomid taxa. This study suggests that predator introduction was the
most important factor affecting the chironomid assemblages in this natural, Azorean fishless lake, but
predators did not affect all chironomid species. Other external forcings like major climate oscillations,
anthropogenic activities in the catchment basin, and volcanic eruptions seem to play an additional role. The
latest stage of the warm and arid Medieval Climate Anomaly (1000–1300 CE) favoured the occurrence of
some warm-adapted chironomid taxa, which were absent through the Little Ice Age (ca. 1450–1850 CE) cool
period.
Palabras clave
Fishless lakes
Predator introductions
Chironomids
Climate change
Oceanic islands
Predator introductions
Chironomids
Climate change
Oceanic islands
Versión del editor
ISSN
0031-0182