Impact of herbivory and competition on lake ecosystem structure: underwater experimental manipulation.

ABSTRACT: Two basic ecological relationships, herbivory and competition, distinctively influence terrestrial ecosystem characteristics, such as plant cover, species richness and species composition. We conducted a cage experiment under natural conditions in an aquatic ecosystem to test the impacts of two treatments combined in a factorial manner: (i) a pulse treatment - removal of dominant competitors among primary producers (macroalgae Chara sp. and Vaucheria sp.), and (ii) a press treatment - preventing herbivore (fish, crayfish) access to caged plots. The plots were sampled once before the treatments were established and four more times within two years. Both treatments had a significantly positive impact on macrophyte cover and species richness and changed the macrophyte species composition. The

SUBMITTER: Vejrikova I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6092342 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature