Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2023
Höfundar / Authors: Daison Weedop (1,2), Bjarni K. Kristjánsson (2), Camille Leblanc (2)
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. University of Maine, 2. Hólar University
Kynnir / Presenter: Daison Weedop
Food webs are important for understanding how members of ecological communities interact with each other, how nutrients cycle through communities and ecosystems, and for identifying important resources for specific taxa. However, it’s been uncommon to include seasonal and individual variation in food web structures. Including seasonal and individual variation builds a more complete understanding of the interactions that occur within systems that may be missed when studies focus only on species or have short sampling periods. Spring-fed cave ponds near Lake Mývatn allow us to sample small landlocked populations of Arctic Charr (Salvlinus alpinus), where individuals are known. This system has long term fish and water parameter data and is accessible throughout the year. Overall, our objectives were 1) to understand seasonal variation in the food webs in two spring-fed ponds, and 2) investigate if charr individuals have a different role in the food web. Arctic Charr were acquired, their morphology measured, and stomach content collected. Also, benthic invertebrates, and zooplankton were sampled in June and August 2023, and will be successively sampled every two months until summer 2024. eDNA methods will be employed for analyzing benthic invertebrate and zooplankton diets. This study will characterize these food webs and their stability in time which may also represent cold spring-fed systems in general.