Abstract
In industrialised areas, teleost fish are often exposed to anthropogenic changes of the water quality. These often have negative effects on species with a narrow ecological range. Species with a wider ecological range, such as the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus Linneaus, 1758), might benefit if water quality alteration reduces interspecific competition and/or parasite infection pressure. In the present study, we investigated sticklebacks in an inland brook, in which the inlet of warm and salty coal mine drainage water increases water temperature and changes the brook from freshwater to brackish (approx. 20 mS cm−1) conditions. We collected sticklebacks up- and downstream of the saltwater inlet (henceforth called freshwater and saltwater sites or habitats) in monthly intervals from April to October 2010, and monitored their body condition parameters and parasite infections. In particular during spring, the water temperature was higher (3.7–4.5°C) in the saltwater habitat and juvenile sticklebacks occurred earlier and grew faster compared to juveniles in the freshwater habitat. In the saltwater habitat, fewer parasite species were detected compared to the freshwater situation (7 vs. 10). Moreover, parasite index, which peaked in young-of-the-year sticklebacks in September, was lower in sticklebacks from the saltwater site. The present study suggests that changes of freshwater conditions by the inlet of warm and salty coal mine drainage water match the adaptive range of three-spined sticklebacks, which grew faster and had lower parasite burden in the altered habitat.
Highlights
In industrialised and intensively agriculturally used areas, water bodies and river systems are shaped by human interventions and often heavily altered compared to their natural structures
Inhabiting fish species are confronted with numerous changes of their habitat such as flow regulation, dams and straightening of watercourses (Raeymaekers et al 2009; Franssen et al 2013), and alterations of water quality, chemistry and temperature (Gravenmier et al 2005; Candolin 2009; Cheek & Taylor 2015)
We hypothesised that euryhaline sticklebacks might grow faster and have fewer parasites in such an anthropogenically caused situation, and compared sticklebacks from upstream and downstream of the inflow for body condition parameters and development of age classes, and for parasite infections, from spring to autumn 2010
Summary
In industrialised and intensively agriculturally used areas, water bodies and river systems are shaped by human interventions and often heavily altered compared to their natural structures. Inhabiting fish species are confronted with numerous changes of their habitat such as flow regulation, dams and straightening of watercourses (Raeymaekers et al 2009; Franssen et al 2013), and alterations of water quality, chemistry and temperature (Gravenmier et al 2005; Candolin 2009; Cheek & Taylor 2015). Such anthropogenic changes of water systems are generally considered detrimental for the inhabiting species, but teleost fish have evolved tolerance to various anthropogenic stressors (Schulte 2013). Three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) are permanently present in both the saltwater-influenced and the freshwater parts of the brook (Scharsack et al 2012)
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