IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i13p10724-d1189102.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Influence of Seasonal Water Level Fluctuations on Food Web Structure of a Large Floodplain Lake in China

Author

Listed:
  • Huan Zhang

    (School of Life Sciences, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China)

  • Yuyu Wang

    (School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Jun Xu

    (Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China)

Abstract

Seasonal shifts in hydrology are known to alter the abundance and diversity of basal production resources and habitats and hence strongly influence the structure and function of river ecosystems. However, equivalent knowledge of natural lake ecosystems in floodplain regions is lacking. Here, we used stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen to assess available primary production sources and consumer taxa during the dry and wet seasons in a large floodplain lake connected to the Yangtze River. Fish species showed distinct δ 13 C values between two hydrological periods but only small changes in δ 15 N values. Most of the fish species had higher estimated trophic levels in the dry season, likely indicating greater carnivory. Results of Bayesian mixing models revealed that benthic algae and benthic organic matter (BOM), combined with C 3 vegetation, were the principal food sources supporting the biomass of most fish species during the low-water period, whereas benthic algae and seston were the most important carbon sources during the flood period. Overall, these findings demonstrate that seasonal hydrological changes, such as water-level fluctuations, can affect the trophic structure and ecosystem functioning of floodplain lake food webs in the subtropical zone.

Suggested Citation

  • Huan Zhang & Yuyu Wang & Jun Xu, 2023. "Influence of Seasonal Water Level Fluctuations on Food Web Structure of a Large Floodplain Lake in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-12, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10724-:d:1189102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10724/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10724/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew C. Parnell & Donald L. Phillips & Stuart Bearhop & Brice X. Semmens & Eric J. Ward & Jonathan W. Moore & Andrew L. Jackson & Jonathan Grey & David J. Kelly & Richard Inger, 2013. "Bayesian stable isotope mixing models," Environmetrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6), pages 387-399, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Napoleón Vargas Jurado & Kent M. Eskridge & Stephen D. Kachman & Ronald M. Lewis, 2018. "Using a Bayesian Hierarchical Linear Mixing Model to Estimate Botanical Mixtures," Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Springer;The International Biometric Society;American Statistical Association, vol. 23(2), pages 190-207, June.
    2. Wang, Zhong-Jun & Yue, Fu-Jun & Wang, Yu-Chun & Qin, Cai-Qing & Ding, Hu & Xue, Li-Li & Li, Si-Liang, 2022. "The effect of heavy rainfall events on nitrogen patterns in agricultural surface and underground streams and the implications for karst water quality protection," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    3. Wu, Junen & Zeng, Huanhuan & Chen, Chunfeng & Liu, Wenjie, 2019. "Can intercropping with the Chinese medicinal herbs change the water use of the aged rubber trees?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10724-:d:1189102. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.