The role of predation and competition in determining the distribution of common bream,roach and white bream in Dutch eutrophic lakes

Synopsis Most of the lakes in The Netherlands are turbid and without vegetation. This is regarded as the result of increasing eutrophication within the last decades. Under these conditions common bream, roach, and white bream are the most common cyprinids. In six shallow (1–3 m), wind exposed lakes the abundance of common bream and roach was linked to the abundance of pikeperch; bream dominated when pikeperch was abundant, but when the latter species was rare, roach was dominant and the biomass of bream was reduced. The biomass of white bream was always relatively low. In lake Tjeukemeer the distribution of roach < 20 cm fork length (FL) and bream was also related to the distribution of pikeperch. Only roach > 20 cm FL managed to coexist with pikeperch in the open water area, whereas roach < 20 cm was confined to the littoral zone where pikeperch was nearly absent. Bream occurred mainly in the open water and avoided the littoral zone where it competed with roach. White bream occupied an intermediate position, occurring in relatively low density both in the littoral zone and in open water. The importance of predation and competition in determining the distribution and abundance of roach and common bream in the eutrophic lakes of The Netherlands is discussed.