| title: | Influence of young-of-the-year fishes on zoo- and phytoplankton in Estonian large lakes and its dependance on seasonal and long-term temperature dynamics |
|---|---|
| reg no: | ETF5425 |
| project type: | Estonian Science Foundation research grant |
| subject: |
1.10-1.16. Bio-Geo Sciences |
| status: | accepted |
| institution: | Institute of Zoology and Botany at Estonian University of Life Sciences |
| head of project: | Peeter Nõges |
| duration: | 01.01.2003 - 31.12.2006 |
| description: | According to the working hypothesis, the annually different dynamics of water temperature causes shifts in phyto- and zooplankton development, in timing of fish spawning and hatching of fish larvae. As these organisms of the trophic chain have different temperature dependence, shifts in timing of their development result in large interannual differences of plankton composition, size structure and abundance. The aims of the project are: 1. To study the seasonality of young-of-the-year fishes abundance and their food composition in Estonian large lakes, L. Võrtsjärv and L. Peipsi. Feeding of 0+ fishes is an important but still unstudied aspect in the ecology of our large lakes. 2. To specify the spatial and temporal temperature distribution in the littoral and open water areas using continuous annual measurements at 10-20 stations per lake. 3. To calibrate the existing general numerical temperature model of lake Peipsi (Mõtt, 2001) for habitats of different depth in the lake and for different parts of L. Võrtsjärv. Basing on data on ice and meteorological variables to reconstruct daily water temperatures for different habitats in both lakes for years 1951-2002. 4. To complement the existing ichthyophenologic database for these lakes (1951-80) with reconstructed daily temperature data and to specify the reproduction-related temperature requirements of different fish species. 5. To combine the existing plankton database (1964-2002) with the complemented ichthyophenologic database. To investigate statistical relationships between the temperature regime, plankton development and 0+ fish dynamics. To study the possible influence of climate change on the food-chain components in large lakes. |
| project group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no | name | institution | position | |
| 1. | Ain Järvalt | EAU IZB | head of station | |
| 2. | Arvo Järvet | TU GI | lecturer | |
| 3. | Tarmo Kõuts | MSI | sen. researcher | |
| 4. | Peeter Nõges | Institute of Zoology and Botany at Estonian University of Life Sciences | senior researcher | |
| 5. | Ove Pärn | MSI | researcher | |