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Secondary Production and Energy Transfer in the Polluted River Saale (Thuringia, Southern GDR)
Author(s) -
Schönborn Wilfried
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
internationale revue der gesamten hydrobiologie und hydrographie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1522-2632
pISSN - 0020-9309
DOI - 10.1002/iroh.19870720503
Subject(s) - environmental science , ecosystem , fish <actinopterygii> , energy transfer , ecology , hydrology (agriculture) , fishery , biology , geology , physics , geotechnical engineering , engineering physics
In the middle reaches of the Saale (α‐mesosaprobic region) there are two final consumers: Erpobdella octoculata (leech) and fish. Three main flows of energy in the river ecosystem are described and quantified. The food web is only poorly developed. In the River Saale Erpobdella is the main predator and controls most of the meio‐ and macrozoobenthos. The type of energy transfer described here seems to predominate in polluted rivers. A qualitatively different type of energy transfer predominates in clean running waters. The relationships between energy transfer and self‐purification are discussed.