Abstract
The predatory cladoceran Bythotrephes longimanus (spiny water flea) has been invading lakes and damaging food webs across the central part of North America since the early 1980s. To understand its niche and that of the taxonomically related and native predatory cladoceran Leptodora kindtii, we investigated species survival after 12 h exposures to low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations in the laboratory. Bythotrephes longimanus (n = 690) exhibited a hypoxia tolerance limit (LC50) of 1.65 mg·L−1 DO (95% confidence interval: 1.59, 1.72 mg·L−1) and was significantly less tolerant of hypoxia than L. kindtii (n = 380), which exhibited an LC50 of 0.58 mg·L−1 DO (0.51, 0.65 mg·L−1). These lab-based physiological results are consistent with landscape-scale observations that B. longimanus successfully invades primarily mesotrophic and oligotrophic lakes, while L. kindtii inhabits a wider range of lakes that includes eutrophic ones. Climate change throughout the 21st century may increase the occurrence and severity of hypoxia in the hypolimnia of lakes and may provide a growing barrier to B. longimanus invasion.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 824-832 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
Volume | 74 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Steven Chiou and Matt Etterson provided statistical assistance. Erica Strom and Ben Block assisted in the field and laboratory. The Water Resources Science Graduate Program at the University of Minnesota generously provided research assistant support to M. Sorensen.