Abstract
In a four year experiment (1988–1991) carried out in a shallow, eutrophic lake, an increase in young-of-the-year pike (Esox lucius) density was used to control planktivorous fish assemblages consisting mainly of small-sized cyprinids: roach (Rutilus rutilus), Leucaspius delineatus, and white bream (Blicca bjoerkna). Stocking with pike fry of ca 30 mm in three successive springs resulted in large-scale mortality among prey of vulnerable sizes. Rotenone treatment at the end of the fourth year showed that roach and white bream populations contained few 0+ to 2+ fish, but very high numbers of 3+ to 6+ fish. By this time, short-lived, slow-growing L. delineatus, with no size refuge from predators, had been driven almost to extinction.
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Prejs, A., Martyniak, A., Boroń, S. et al. Food web manipulation in a small, eutrophic Lake Wirbel, Poland: effect of stocking with juvenile pike on planktivorous fish. Hydrobiologia 275, 65–70 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026700
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00026700