Research project Plankton-fish interactions: an understudied link in Baltic Sea food webs and fisheries management

Understanding variation in plankton-fish feeding interactions are key for developing management strategies that promote fisheries production and enhance control on algal blooms. A current limitation, however, is the lack of data on diet of small pelagic fish, taking the entire prey spectrum into account, hampering predictions of management strategies. Here we investigate prey preference of small pelagic fish including the entire prey spectrum using novel molecular tools that amplify and sequence low levels of DNA combined with network models to project trophic coupling under changing climate, nutrient and fisheries scenarios. These results are of relevance to better understand temporal and spatial dynamics of fish feeding, growth and recruitment, which is important to advice ecosystem management for sustainable fisheries and prevention of algal blooms.