Temporal changes in feeding ecology and life histories of Arctic charr and Brown trout in Faroese lakes

FishFAR project aims to identify effects of climate change on community structure and trophic ecology of fishes in small subarctic Faroes lakes. First, we compare feeding resources, fish diet and fish morphology across 3 small subarctic lakes: Leynavatn, Saksunarvatn and Toftavatn. These lakes represent contrasting combination of fish species. By studying what fishes eat, where they are found, and how/if they compete, we can identify how they can affect the whole lake ecosystem. We compare the contemporary data to those obtained in summer 2000 (NORLAKE project), allowing an estimation of contemporary changes in salmonid species in the context of warming. We will also monitor water temperature at various depth in the lakes throughout the years. This project will increase our spatial and
temporal understanding of biodiversity of freshwater fishes in small subarctic lakes in the Faroes. This is of critical importance for successful conservation of biodiversity under the current climate and biodiversity crises.
This project is led by the Faroe Islands History Museum, in collaboration with two universities abroad (Hólar University, Iceland, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark) and Iceland Museum of Natural History.