Diversity, distribution and community composition of fish in the archipelago of large and deep lakes north and south of the European Alps

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Diversity, distribution and community composition of fish in the archipelago of large and deep lakes north and south of the European Alps Ole Seehausen1, 2* 1 Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Bern, Switzerland 2 Center for Ecology, Evolution & Biogeochemistry (CEEB), Fish Ecology & Evolution, EAWAG Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Switzerland Archipelagic habitats are classical model systems in ecology, evolution and biogeography because the existence of multiple contained and partly isolated ecosystems, colonized by similar biota and exposed to similar environmental conditions, provides researchers with replicated natural experiments in evolution and community ecology. Such systems are also of primary conservation concern because they are frequently home to endemic species and species radiations, which have come under pressure by a multitude of factors, including invasive species that arrive in the wake of globalisation. One of the most extensive archipelagos of freshwater lakes are the deep postglacial lakes of the European Alps in the old glacier valleys, incised fjord-like into the mountains from the North and the South. After the glaciers retreated 15000 years ago, the lakes north of the Alpine ridge, and those south of it, were independently colonized from different refugial species pools. Most of the larger and deeper among these lakes contain endemic fish species or small radiations of several species. Unfortunately, many have gone extinct in recent decades. Yet, the knowledge of diversity, distribution and endemism among the fish in these systems is surprisingly incomplete. I will present results and key insights that we obtained in the course of a multi-year quantitative survey of fish diversity and distribution that we conducted between 2009 and 2017, the first of its kind in the region, but hopefully the basis for more in-depth research on these unique lake biota. Acknowledgements I thank Pascal Vonlanthen, Guy Periat, Tim Alexander for working together on Projet Lac for many years. I thank Eawag, the Institute of Ecology & Evolution of Uni Bern, the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), fisheries authorities of many Swiss kantons, fisheries authorities in France, Italy and Germany for their support Keywords: endemism, Endangered Species, extinction, adaptive radiation, speciation, conservation, salmonids Conference: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2019. Presentation Type: Plenary Invited Presentation Topic: TAXONOMY, PHYLOGENY AND ZOOGEOGRAPHY Citation: Seehausen O (2019). Diversity, distribution and community composition of fish in the archipelago of large and deep lakes north and south of the European Alps. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00160 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 23 Jul 2019; Published Online: 14 Aug 2019. * Correspondence: Prof. Ole Seehausen, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Bern, Bern, Bern, 3012 Berne, Switzerland, ole.seehausen@eawag.ch Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Ole Seehausen Google Ole Seehausen Google Scholar Ole Seehausen PubMed Ole Seehausen Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.