Sustainability Issue #3 October 2009

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Midge bones reveal fish history

The mandible of the phantom midge is microscopic. But in the hands of researchers at the Department of Zoology, Göteborg University, these midge bones become a time machine that documents 200 years' of acidification and fish elimination in Swedish lakes.

The mandible of the phantom midge Flavicans montreal. It varies in size from 0.1 to 0.3 mm. The mandible is found in the bottoms of lakes, normally in numbers ranging from a few single specimens to more than 100 per sediment layer. The studies have been made in Västra Götaland and Bohuslän in the west of Sweden, with special focus on the Gårdsjö region at Ucklum which has for many decades been the centre of Swediash acidification research. Photographer: Fredrik Palm

Many of our Swedish lakes are still showing clear signs of acidification, with extensive fish death and greatly reduced biodiversity as a result. Recent research has highlighted a clear connection between fish elimination and phantom midge larvae, where a reduction in fish stocks may result in an explosion of phantom midge larvae in acidified lakes.

This midge invasion is now the basis of a unique research project at Göteborg University. By investigating the midge skeletons preserved at the bottoms of lakes, the researchers can examine how the fish stock has been affected and changed during the latest centuries.

The investigation method makes it possible for the effects of acidification to be studied in lakes where no sampling had been carried out before, and where there are no historic records regarding the fish population.

- In turn, such studies enable us to determine how biological restoration of an acidified lake should be carried out, since they reveal what the fish population should be for the lake to be considered fully restored, says Fredrik Palm. The historic perspective of the method also makes it possible to chart the natural variations in the ecosystem of a lake. In this way, researchers can see how human impacts such as climate changes, eutrophication and acidification affect the ecosystems of lakes.

Responsible for this page: Birgitta Bruzelius

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