Can top-down effects of cypriniform fish be used to mitigate eutrophication effects in medium-sized European rivers?

Eutrophication seriously threatens the ecological quality and biodiversity of running waters. In nutrient-enriched streams and shallow rivers, eutrophication leads to excessive periphyton growth and, in turn, biological clogging, oxygen depletion in the hyporheic zone and finally a reduction in the hyporheic habitat quality. Top-down control of the food-web by manipulating fish stocks, similar to the biomanipulation successfully applied in lakes, offers a promising approach to mitigating the effects of eutrophication in shallow rivers, especially those in which major reductions in nutrient input are not feasible. We conducted a reach-scale experiment over 4 years in a medium-sized eutrophic river to assess whether the top-down effects of two important large European cypriniform fish species, herbivorous common nase (Chondrostoma nasus) and omnivorous European chub (Squalius cephalus), would mitigate the effects of eutrophication. The enhancement of fish stocks was expected to reduce biological clogging, via the top-down control of periphyton by benthic grazing and enhanced bioturbation, thus increasing oxygen availability in the hyporheic zone as well as water exchange between the surface water and the hyporheic zone. As expected, enhancing the stocks of nase and chub increased both oxygen availability and vertical exchange flux of water in the upper layer of the hyporheic zone. However, periphyton biomass (chlorophyll a) was significantly reduced only in deeper pool habitat. Thus, while experimental biomanipulation in a shallow river significantly mitigated the effects of eutrophication in the hyporheic zone, top-down effects on periphyton biomass were rather small. Overall, to our knowledge, our results provide first evidence that the biomanipulation achieved by enhancing herbivorous and omnivorous fish stocks has the potential to mitigate the effects of eutrophication in medium-sized European rivers.