Metal contamination can disrupt the trophic links in food webs by altering the taxonomic composition and size structure of benthic invertebrate communities. Benthic invertebrate samples and perch (Perca flavescens) were collected from six lakes along a gradient of metal pollution in Rouyn-Noranda, Canada. The benthic communities of the contaminated lakes were less diverse and had smaller individuals (0.09 mg d.w. and 0.16 mg d.w. vs. 0.22 mg d.w. in the reference lake). The stomach contents of perch from contaminated lakes were less diverse, showed a greater reliance on chironomids or zooplankton, and cannibalism than perch from less polluted lakes. The mean size of prey in perch from contaminated lakes was smaller than in reference lakes (3.7 mg d.w. and 7.39 mg d.w. vs. 47.7 mg d.w. and 67.1 mg d.w. in reference lakes). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.29449 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Küvecses, Jennifer |
| Contributors | Rasmussen, J. B. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001956474, proquestno: MQ85800, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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