FISH AND BENTHIC INVERTEBRATES - COMMUNITY CONCORDANCE AND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT RELATIONSHIPS

Fish and benthic invertebrates from 40 lakes in south-central Ontario showed significantly concordant patterns based on community structure. Fish communities were associated significantly with lake morphological characteristics, but were uncorrelated with water chemistry. Large, deep lakes differed from shallow lakes in their fish species, having richer faunas due to the additional cold-water species. Centrarchid species occurred more frequently in small, shallow lakes than in larger lakes. The invertebrate community was not correlated with lake morphology, but showed a significant association with water chemistry, principally lake pH. A strong contrast in the abundance of Chaoborus and Holopedium existed, but it was unclear whether this was due to a predator-prey relationship or to differences in acid tolerance. Although the lakes showed similar patterns in the composition of both communities, each community was associated with a different set of environmental factors. Biotic processes within and between communities explain this paradox in community-environment relationships. Such biotic interactions may involve direct processes such as fish predation on a particular invertebrate taxon or indirect factors, e.g., where fish limit the abundance of invertebrate predators, thereby limiting the impact of these invertebrate predators.