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The Role of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Control for Phytoplankton in a Subtropical Shallow Eutrophic Lake: Evidence Based on Long-Term Monitoring and Modeling

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Abstract

Lake ecosystems are exposed to a range of anthropogenic pressures, particularly eutrophication, and in some cases also stocking and/or overfishing of top-predator fish species, all factors that have implications for the food web structure and which could lead to dominance of nuisance cyanobacteria. Restoration of degraded lakes demands insight into the relative role of top-down for bottom-up regulating forces. While knowledge about these forces in temperate lakes is extensive, comparatively little is known of their role in subtropical lakes where the importance of herbivorous and benthic feeding fish is higher. Here, we analyzed a long-term monitoring data set on subtropical, shallow Lake Taihu, China, and applied random forests regression to examine how phytoplankton was related to environmental variables and biotic assemblages. Our results indicate that the biomass and density of phytoplankton increased with increasing biomass of benthivorous and zooplanktivorous fish and decreased with increases in ammonium concentrations, the nitrogen to phosphorus ratio, and zooplankton biomass, while the response to climate fluctuations and changes in the biomass of piscivores was weak. Effects of higher trophic levels explained as much of the variance in phytoplankton biomass as did nutrients and climatic factors. Moreover, the remarkably reduced ratio of zooplankton to phytoplankton biomass and the decline in cladoceran individual biomass emphasized the increasing importance of top-down control in regulating the phytoplankton following extensive stocking. Our findings offer insight into how fish management may be combined with catchment-level restoration measures to conserve and enhance water quality.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Taihu Laboratory for Lake Ecosystem Research (CERN TLLER) for providing the necessary data. This work was supported by Major Science and Technology Program of Nei Mongol (ZDZX2018054), Major Science and Technology Program of China for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (2017ZX07204005), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31870449), and NIGLAS Independent Deployment Program (NIGLAS2018GH04). Erik Jeppesen was supported by Centre for Water Technology, Aarhus University (WATEC). We thank Anne Mette Poulsen for valuable English editions. We have no conflict of interest to declare.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, East Beijing Road 73, Nanjing, 210008, Jiangsu Province, China

      Zhigang Mao, Xiaohong Gu, Min Zhang, Qingfei Zeng, Huihui Chen & Ruijie Shen

    2. Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, 61820, USA

      Yong Cao

    3. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 8600, Silkeborg, Denmark

      Erik Jeppesen

    4. Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research, Beijing, 100049, China

      Erik Jeppesen

    5. Limnology Laboratory and EKOSAM, Department of Biological Sciences, Middle East Technical University, 06800, Ankara, Turkey

      Erik Jeppesen

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    1. Zhigang Mao
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    Correspondence to Xiaohong Gu.

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    ZGM, XHG and YC conceived and designed the study; YC and MZ contributed new models; QFZ, HHC, and RJS performed research; ZGM and EJ wrote the paper.

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    Mao, Z., Gu, X., Cao, Y. et al. The Role of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Control for Phytoplankton in a Subtropical Shallow Eutrophic Lake: Evidence Based on Long-Term Monitoring and Modeling. Ecosystems 23, 1449–1463 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00480-0

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