Environmental factors shaping fish fauna structure in a temperate mesotidal estuary: Periodic insights from the Elbe estuary across four decades

IF 2.6 3区 地球科学 Q1 MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
Jesse Theilen , Victoria Sarrazin , Elena Hauten , Raphael Koll , Christian Möllmann , Andrej Fabrizius , Ralf Thiel
{"title":"Environmental factors shaping fish fauna structure in a temperate mesotidal estuary: Periodic insights from the Elbe estuary across four decades","authors":"Jesse Theilen ,&nbsp;Victoria Sarrazin ,&nbsp;Elena Hauten ,&nbsp;Raphael Koll ,&nbsp;Christian Möllmann ,&nbsp;Andrej Fabrizius ,&nbsp;Ralf Thiel","doi":"10.1016/j.ecss.2025.109208","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Anthropogenic perturbations paired with increasing climatic changes, affect the biota composition and ecosystem services provided by highly productive estuarine transitional ecosystems worldwide. To determine driving forces affecting fish stocks in an estuarine habitat, we created a periodic time series over the last four decades (1984–2022) combining fish species compositions and densities with environmental conditions along the course of the temperate mesotidal Elbe estuary. We detected major changes in the species composition alongside with changes in life cycle guilds composition. With a relative increase of marine-estuarine opportunists and reduction of diadromous species, the fish fauna of the Elbe estuary has become more similar in guild structure compared to macro tidal estuaries in Europe. Improvements in water quality in the 1990s were accompanied by increased fish densities, specially smelt (<em>Osmerus eperlanus</em>), until 2010. Anthropogenic hydromorphological interventions, however, could have led to an increase in suspended particular matter until 2022, which combined with reduced river runoff and poor oxygen concentrations in summer months acted as poor environmental conditions for fishes in the estuary. Mean fish densities dropped by over 91 % compared to 2010 to an all-time low in the data. This reduction was primarily a result of a decline of the key species smelt in the system along with declines of twaite shad (<em>Alosa fallax</em>), flounder (<em>Platichthys flesus</em>), ruffe (<em>Gymnocephalus cernua</em>), common bream (<em>Abramis brama</em>) and other species. On the contrary, marine species herring (<em>Clupea harengus</em>) and whiting (<em>Merlangius merlangus</em>) densities increased. Overall, the time-series provides insight into the strong impact of human intervention that are however expected to lead to further stressors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50497,"journal":{"name":"Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science","volume":"318 ","pages":"Article 109208"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272771425000861","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Anthropogenic perturbations paired with increasing climatic changes, affect the biota composition and ecosystem services provided by highly productive estuarine transitional ecosystems worldwide. To determine driving forces affecting fish stocks in an estuarine habitat, we created a periodic time series over the last four decades (1984–2022) combining fish species compositions and densities with environmental conditions along the course of the temperate mesotidal Elbe estuary. We detected major changes in the species composition alongside with changes in life cycle guilds composition. With a relative increase of marine-estuarine opportunists and reduction of diadromous species, the fish fauna of the Elbe estuary has become more similar in guild structure compared to macro tidal estuaries in Europe. Improvements in water quality in the 1990s were accompanied by increased fish densities, specially smelt (Osmerus eperlanus), until 2010. Anthropogenic hydromorphological interventions, however, could have led to an increase in suspended particular matter until 2022, which combined with reduced river runoff and poor oxygen concentrations in summer months acted as poor environmental conditions for fishes in the estuary. Mean fish densities dropped by over 91 % compared to 2010 to an all-time low in the data. This reduction was primarily a result of a decline of the key species smelt in the system along with declines of twaite shad (Alosa fallax), flounder (Platichthys flesus), ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernua), common bream (Abramis brama) and other species. On the contrary, marine species herring (Clupea harengus) and whiting (Merlangius merlangus) densities increased. Overall, the time-series provides insight into the strong impact of human intervention that are however expected to lead to further stressors.

Abstract Image

在温带中潮汐河口形成鱼类动物群结构的环境因素:四十年来易北河河口的周期性见解
随着气候变化的加剧,人为干扰影响了世界范围内高产河口过渡生态系统所提供的生物群组成和生态系统服务。为了确定影响河口生境鱼类种群的驱动力,我们将易北河河口温带中潮汐河道的鱼类种类组成和密度与环境条件结合起来,创建了一个近40年(1984-2022)的周期时间序列。我们发现了物种组成的主要变化以及生命周期行会组成的变化。易北河口的鱼类区系结构与欧洲大型潮汐河口相比,随着海洋-河口机会体的相对增加和双栖物种的减少,它们的区系结构趋于相似。直到2010年,1990年代水质的改善伴随着鱼类密度的增加,特别是臭鼬(Osmerus eperlanus)。然而,人为的水文形态干预可能导致悬浮特定物质的增加,直到2022年,再加上河流径流减少和夏季氧气浓度低,河口鱼类的环境条件很差。数据显示,与2010年相比,平均鱼类密度下降了91%以上,达到历史最低水平。这种减少主要是由于系统中关键物种的减少,以及白鲑(Alosa fallax)、比目鱼(Platichthys flesus)、鲷鱼(Gymnocephalus cernua)、鲷鱼(Abramis brama)和其他物种的减少。相反,鲱鱼(Clupea harengus)和白鲑(Merlangius merlangus)的密度增加。总的来说,时间序列提供了对人类干预的强烈影响的洞察,然而预计会导致进一步的压力源。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
CiteScore
5.60
自引率
7.10%
发文量
374
审稿时长
9 months
期刊介绍: Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science is an international multidisciplinary journal devoted to the analysis of saline water phenomena ranging from the outer edge of the continental shelf to the upper limits of the tidal zone. The journal provides a unique forum, unifying the multidisciplinary approaches to the study of the oceanography of estuaries, coastal zones, and continental shelf seas. It features original research papers, review papers and short communications treating such disciplines as zoology, botany, geology, sedimentology, physical oceanography.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信