Post doc : Post-doctoral position18 monthsSpatially explicit individual-based modelling of three predator fish species population dynamics in a reservoir


5 octobre 2017
Types d'actualités
Thèses (soutenance, appels)
Résumé
Scientific context
Fish habitat use is a key driver of population dynamics (Hayes et al., 2009), essential knowledge for predicting how populations are likely to respond to management rules (Koster et al., 2015). The littoral zones of lakes host a high biodiversity (Schmieder, 2004) and provide resources available nowhere else in the lacustrine ecosystem (Zohary and Gasith, 2014). Most fishes use them during their entire life cycle for feeding, refuge or reproduction (Winfield, 2004). Reservoirs experience anthropogenic water level fluctuations (WLF) that affect the littoral habitats and their availability. Then, through these effects on habitat, fish fauna can be impacted in several ways by WLF: loss of refuge areas (Kaczka and Miranda, 2014), loss of spawning habitats (Hudon et al., 2005) and loss of potential prey (Winfield, 2004). Though statements on their impact are frequent, quantification of WLF effects on biological communities, at the littoral zone scale as well as on the entire reservoir scale, remains little documented (Wantzen et al., 2008).