1976/01/01 by John J. Magnuson · 88 citations
Environmental Science · #Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies #Biology #Ecology #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Extinction (optical mineralogy) #Fish <Actinopterygii> #Fishery #Habitat #Isotope Analysis in Ecology #Physics #Predictability
paper · doi:10.1577/1548-8659(1976)105<1:mwegoc>2.0.co;2
published in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 105(1), 1-9 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 1976/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26
Lakes are like islands—isolated, small, and relatively young. These similarities suggest that the theory developed for species dynamics on islands by MacArthur and Wilson (1963) may be relevant to lakes. If so, the expectations are that the number of species in a lake is the result of an equilibrium between rates of immigration of new species and extinction of existing species. The number of species would be lower in small, isolated lakes with simple habitat than in large or complex lakes or those exposed to a source of new species. Instability in species structure would be higher in lakes with a continuous source of new species or “exotics.” The influence of immigrations on species structure would be greater in smaller or more simple habitats than in larger or more complex habitats. Manˈs activities increase both immigration and extinction rates and induce even greater instability to species structure and thus add greater uncertainty or “chance” into the results of fish management plans. Attempts to retain more “natural” rates of species exchange among lakes may reduce instability and increase predictability in fish management.