Master thesis for the Master’s study programme Biological Oceanography in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel Trophic dynamics of Baltic fish species after the 2014 Major Baltic Inflow event (Cohen 1990) submitted by Clarissa Katharina Mohm First examiner: Dr. Jan Dierking Second examiner: Dr. Jamileh Javidpour Kiel, September 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... II LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... III LIST OF APPENDICES .......................................................................................................... III LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... V ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 2 2. MATERIAL AND METHODS ............................................................................................. 8 2.1 Sampling ........................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Stable isotope analysis ...................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Condition analysis .......................................................................................................... 10 2.4 Lipid correction .............................................................................................................. 10 2.5 Statistical analysis ........................................................................................................... 11 3. RESULTS ............................................................................................................................. 12 4. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................... 26 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 35 APPENDIX .............................................................................................................................. 40 Appendix 1 - Figures ............................................................................................................. 40 Appendix 2 - Tables .............................................................................................................. 46 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... 60 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP ..................................................................................... 61 I LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The Baltic Sea and its neighbouring countries and catchment area ........................... 2 Figure 2. A schematic, simplified illustration of the Baltic Sea food web structure ................. 3 Figure 3. The piscivore predators (a) Baltic cod ( Gadus morhua ) and (b) whiting ( Merlangius merlangus ) .................................................................................................................................. 4 Figure 4. The pelagic fish species (a) herring ( Clupea harengus ), (b) sprat ( Sprattus sprattus ) and (c) three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus ) ........................................................ 5 Figure 5. The flatfish species (a) dab ( Limanda limanda ), (b) flounder (Platichthys flesus ), and (c) plaice (Pleuronectes platessa )........................................................................................ 5 Figure 6. Sampling sites in ICES subdivisions (SD) covered during AL476 with pelagic trawls (JFT = “Jungfischtrawls”) ............................................................................................... 8 Figure 7. Biplot of mean δ15 N (‰) and δ13 C (‰) of all sampled individuals per species. ..... 13 Figure 8. Biplot of mean δ15 N (‰) and δ34 S (‰) of all sampled individuals per species ...... 14 Figure 9. Scatterplot of δ34 S (‰) and TL (cm) for cod per SD ............................................... 16 Figure 10 . Scatterplot of δ13 C (‰) and TL (cm) for cod per SD ............................................ 16 Figure 11. Scatterplot of δ15 N (‰) and TL (cm) for cod per SD. ........................................... 17 34 Figure 12. Scatterplot of K n and δ S (‰) for cod per SD ...................................................... 18 Figure 13. Scatterplot of δ34 S (‰) and TL (cm) for cod and whiting of SD24 ...................... 19 Figure 14. Scatterplot of δ34 S (‰) and TL (cm) for cod and whiting of SD25 ...................... 20 Figure 15. Isotopic niche overlap of δ15 N (‰) and δ34 S (‰) between cod and whiting of SD24 ......................................................................................................................................... 21 Figure 16. Isotopic niche overlap of δ15 N (‰) and δ34 S (‰) between cod and whiting of SD25 ......................................................................................................................................... 21 Figure 17. Scatterplot of δ34 S (‰) and TL (cm) for herring, sprat and three-spined stickleback of SD25 .................................................................................................................................... 22 Figure 18. Isotopic niche overlap of δ15 N (‰) and δ34 S (‰) between herring, sprat and three- spined stickleback of SD25 ...................................................................................................... 23 Figure 19. Scatterplot of δ34 S (‰) and TL (cm) for dab, flounder and plaice of SD22 ......... 24 Figure 20. Isotopic niche overlap of δ15 N (‰) and δ34 S (‰) between dab, flounder and plaice of SD22 .................................................................................................................................... 25 Figure 21. Graphic representation of (a) cod under ideal conditions with benthos being ubiquitously available for both juvenile and adult cod; and (b-d) of the mechanisms potentially driving cod condition due to the presence of hypoxic areas .................................. 30 II LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Sample sizes per ICES subdivision (SD) and species.. ............................................... 9 Table 2. Summary of results of ANCOVA general linear model (GLM) of cod (n=92), with δ34 S as response variable, SD and SD*TL as explanatory variables, and TL as covariate. SD24, 25 and 26 ....................................................................................................................... 15 Table 3. Summary of results of ANCOVA general linear model (GLM) of cod (n=92), with δ13 C as response variable, SD and SD*TL as explanatory variables, and TL as covariate. SD24, 25 and 26 ....................................................................................................................... 15 Table 4. Summary of results of ANCOVA general linear model (GLM) of cod (n=92), with δ15 N as response variable, SD and SD*TL as explanatory variables, and TL as covariate. SD24, 25 and 26. ...................................................................................................................... 15 Table 5. Summary of results of ANCOVA general linear model (GLM) of cod (n=91), with 34 Kn (relative condition factor) as response variable, SD and SD* δ S as explanatory variables, and δ34 S as covariate. SD24, 25 and 26.................................................................................... 18 Table 6. Summary of results of ANCOVA general linear model (GLM) of cod (n=61) and whiting (n=17), with δ34 S as response variable, SD, species and SD*species as explanatory variables, and TL as covariate. SD24 and 25 ........................................................................... 19 Table 7. Summary of results of ANOVA general linear model (GLM) of herring (n=10), sprat (n=10) and three-spined stickleback (n=9), with δ34 S as response variable, and species as explanatory variables. SD25 .................................................................................................... 22 Table 8. Summary of results of ANCOVA general linear model (GLM) of dab (n=10), flounder (n=9) and plaice (n=7), with δ34 S as response variable, species and species*TL as explanatory variables, and TL as covariate. SD22. .................................................................. 24 Table 9. Overview of SIA results of all species included in the isotopic biplots, and their diet preferences based on conclusions from the here in presented SIA results, shown in comparison to conclusions from previous studies .................................................................... 27 LIST OF APPENDICES – Appendix 1 - Figures Appendix 1.1. Scatterplot of δ13 C (‰) and TL (cm) for cod and whiting of SD24 ................ 40 Appendix 1.2. Scatterplot of δ15 N (‰) and TL (cm) for cod and whiting of SD24 ............... 40 Appendix 1.3. Isotopic niche overlap of δ15 N (‰) and δ13 C (‰) between cod and whiting of SD24 ........................................................................................................................................