Features of the diet of the vendace (Coregonus albula, L) of Lake Vishtynetskoye (Kaliningrad region) in conditions of the increasing anthropogenic load

Currently, the study of the effect of eutrophication on the food preferences of fish is one of the foundations for understanding the processes of transformation of food chains in aquatic ecosystems. Ichthyocenoses play a key role in the dynamics of water body productivity. Changes in their qualitative and quantitative characteristics bear a significant influence on primary production and eutrophication of ecosystems. Vendace, as a plankton feeder, demonstrates high plasticity of the food spectrum, which reflects the environmental changes. In the context of increasing anthropogenic load and climate change, the study of vendace diet allows to assess the state of the ichthyocenosis and the rate of eutrophication of the lake. The ecosystem of lake Vishtynetskoye has undergone significant changes in the past few years, which is reflected not only in the state of the biota, but also affects the trophic relationships in it. Vendace of lake Vishtynetskoye, being valuable species, as in other water bodies of its range, sharply reacts to these changes, including a change in the food spectrum. At the same time, being mass plankton feeder, it can affect eutrophication processes and it can  be used as one of the objects in environmental biomanipulation. The food spectrum studies were conducted in summer 2022. The main components of vendace diet are cladocerans and copepods, as well as representatives of the zoobenthic community. The results showed that the diet of vendace is quite stable, but changeable due to some changes in temperature conditions and anthropogenic factors. These changes reflect transformations in the lake ecosystem associated with an increase in the flow of allochthonous substances and a change in the biochemical activity of the biota.

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