Fossil Pigment Records of Phytoplankton in Trout-stocked Alpine Lakes

Abstract

Paleolimnology, bioenergetics modelling, and mesocosm experiments were used to quantify changes in phytoplankton following introduction of trout into fishless alpine lakes in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. During the 1960s, Snowflake and Pipit lakes were stocked with brook (Salvelinus fontinalis), cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarkii) and rainbow trout (O. mykiss) either singly or in combination. Stocked trout eliminated large invertebrates (Daphnia spp., Hesperodiaptomus arcticus, Gamrnarus lacustris), but the fish died within 15 yr. High performance liquid chromatographic analysis of carotenoids and chlorophylls in sediments inferred that algal abundance increased 4- to 10-fold shortly after fish stocking. In contrast, phytoplankton composition and biomass were constant in nearby, unstocked Harrison Lake, as inferred from fossils. Pigment analysis of mesocosms showed that phytoplankton were sensitive to moderate fertilization: 11 μg P∙L−1 resulted in four- to six-fold increases in algal biomass. Bioenergetics modelling was used to estimate phosphorus (P) excretion from trout. The flux of excreted P was highly correlated (r2 = 0.76, p < 0.0001, N = 12) to changes in algal biomass, as estimated from fossil pheophytin b. Consequently, we infer that nutrient recycling by stocked trout was one of several mechanisms that contributed to increased algal biomass.