Dr. Fred JoppLeibniz-Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei / University of Miamihttp://www.igb-berlin.de/~fred.jopp |
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Analyzing the Fish Communities of the Freshwater Everglades |
| Changes in hydrology of the Everglades over the last several decades havereduced the hydroperiod in some areas and may have diminished forage fishes and their food base. One of the central restoration means to achieve historic fish productiv-ity is to understand and to improve spatio-temporal waterpat-terns in the wetlands. Here, the interplay of the external drivers (e.g., hydrology, weather) and internal drivers (e.g. intra- and interspecific competion) that determine thevariables in focus, like the biomass production of the desired organizational levels, can-not be assessed adequately in field studies. Therefore, we investigate the trophic structure and the biomass dynamics within spatially-explicit simulation models of complex aquatic food webs,that we use to analyze the relevant pattern and processes. Within the resulting structure of flooded and non-flooded areas the fish were allowed to disperse and exploit the different habitat types. We performed long-term simulations and looked how the organizational levels reacted to changes in parameter values. We discuss the consequences of these results for management and restoration of the Everglades aquatic communities and give an outlook on future research projects. |
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Ort |
| 19.03.2009, 15.00 Uhr Großer Hörsaal |
© IGB |