Trophic position in aquatic food webs

This thesis examines broad-scale patterns in the food web structure of lake ecosystems. The unifying framework for this analysis is the concept of trophic position, which represents the energy-weighted trophic path length leading to a consumer or population. Trophic position was estimated for over 550 populations of fish (16 species) using quantitative dietary data. A method to estimate trophic position of aquatic consumers using stable isotope ratios was developed; this involved correcting for within and among-lake variation in delta15N of primary consumers (organisms used to represent the base of the food web). We report an overall correspondence between dietary and isotopic estimates of trophic position; for each species, trophic position generally ranged the equivalent of one trophic level unit among-populations. The concept of discrete trophic levels provided only a qualitative description of energy flow pathways in aquatic food webs. Among-population variation was much greater than within-population variation in trophic position of lake trout. Long-standing hypotheses about the determinants of food chain length were examined; food chain length was most closely correlated with species richness and lake area.The trophic position approach was used to examine two separate environmental problems relevant to lakes: the bioaccumulation of persistent contaminants in food chains and the impacts of invasive species. Trophic position was the major determinant of PCB levels in lake trout; these relationships were used to characterize biomagnification factors (BMFs) for this and a number of other contaminants. Furthermore, the introduction of smelt into lakes was linked to increased levels of PCB and Hg contamination in lake trout. Stable isotopes were used to quantify the impacts of smallmouth bass and rock bass invasions on food webs leading to lake trout. Lake trout from invaded lakes exhibited reduced consumption on littoral prey fish; a food web shift that is likely to have detrimental impacts on native lake trout populations