Population ecology of perch (Perca fluviatilis) in boreal lakes

Sammanfattning: I studied the effects of temperature, pH, competition and predation on Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis) in 30 lakes in Norway during 1981-2001. The study lakes were situated in two different areas in southern Norway; four lakes in Aust-Agder county in southernmost Norway were explored during 1981-1984 and 26 lakes in Hedmark county in south-eastern Norway were investigated during 1992-2001. The study lakes varied considerably in pH, temperature, fish species composition, and perch abundance and size composition. In addition to field surveys, behavioural studies of perch were conducted at Karlstad University in 2006-2007.The field studies revealed that temperature affected recruitment of perch as strong year-classes of perch generally occurred in summers with high temperatures. Temperature also affected perch behaviour as indicated by the low gillnet catches (CPUE) of perch atlow temperature. This effect on CPUE was also supported by results from the aquaria experiments, where swimming and feeding activity of perch was low at low temperature. In a study of four lakes, growth was positively related to temperature in the lake with an allopatric perch population, but not in three lakes where perch occurred sympatrically with roach.pH also affected recruitment. In the four lakes in Aust-Agder, one strong year-class of perch occurred in all lakes in a year with especially high pH in spring and early summer. Adult mortality was also affected by pH, as old perch were less abundant in lakes with late spring pH=5.5-5.8 than in lakes with pH<5.5 and pH>5.8. The size and growth of adult perch were negatively affected by low pH, whereas abundance of large, potentially predatory perch was positively related to pH.The field studies indicated that roach influence perch populations. When coexisting with roach, perch were mainly littoral. In lakes where roach dominated (by number), there was no growth – temperature correlation, but there was such a correlation in lakes without roach. In lakes with sympatric roach, age-specific weight of perch and the growth of 2+ perch were negatively related to the proportion of roach in the gillnet catches. In the aquaria experiments, swimming and feeding activity of perch were lower than that of roach at all temperatures tested, and the difference was most pronounced at 4 and 8 °C. The aquaria experiments indicated that perch had a lower feeding efficiency and that they generally occupied positions closer to the bottom than roach.