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Aquatic Pollution Increases Use Of Terrestrial Prey Subsidies By Stream Fish, Johanna M. Kraus, Justin F. Pomeranz, Andrew S. Todd, David M. Walters, Travis S. Schmidt, Richard B. Wanty

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

1. Stream food webs are connected with their riparian zones through cross-ecosystem movements of energy and nutrients. The use and impact of terrestrial subsidies on aquatic consumers is often determined by in situ biomass of aquatic prey. Thus, stressors such as aquatic pollutants that greatly reduce aquatic secondary production could increase the need for and reliance of stream consumers on terrestrial resource subsidies.

2. To test this hypothesis, we surveyed stream fish, their diets, and resource availability in 16 subalpine streams over a regional gradient of trace metals known to strongly impact aquatic insect communities (i.e. fish prey) in …