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Submerged macrophytes facilitate dominance of omnivorous fish in a subtropical shallow lake: implications for lake restoration

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Abstract

Biomanipulation based on removal of coarse fish, piscivorous fish stocking and sometimes also planting of submerged macrophytes has been used to restore temperate eutrophic shallow lakes. However, in warmer lakes, omnivorous fish are more abundant and apparently less well controlled by the piscivores. We investigated the food web structure and energy pathways of fish in the restored part of subtropical Lake Wuli, China, using gut contents analysis (GCA) and the IsoSource model based on stable isotope analysis (SIA) data. We found that omnivores dominated the fish community in terms of numbers. GCA showed that cyclopoid copepods constituted the main food item for the planktivores, while all adult omnivorous fish fed mainly on macrophytes. The IsoSource SIA model supported these results. Furthermore, piscivores consumed shrimps rather than juvenile omnivores, and the SIA analysis revealed no trophic links between piscivores and adult omnivores or zooplanktivores. We conclude that macrophytes constituted an important food item for omnivores, potentially promoting population growth of omnivores as control by piscivores was weak. This may yield a high predation pressure on both zooplankton and on macrophytes, possibly preventing the establishment of a stable macrophyte state following restoration of eutrophic lakes unless the fish density is regularly controlled.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Ming Zhang and Yachan Ji for field and laboratory support and Anne Mette Poulsen for language assistance. Thanks also go to Pingping Liu from Nanjing Zhongke Water Environment Engineering Co. Ltd, who provided the initial biomass data on the removed fish. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31400400, 31270409, U1033602, 31370477), the Key Project of the 135 program of Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology (NIGLAS2012135007, NIGLAS2012135002), the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams and the National Water Special Project of China (2013ZX07101014-2). FTM was supported by SNI-ANII, EJ was supported by the MARS project (Managing Aquatic ecosystems and water Resources under multiple Stress) funded under the 7th EU Framework Programme, Theme 6 (Environment including Climate Change), Contract No.: 603378 (http://www.mars-project.eu), and the projects ‘CLEAR’ (a Villum Kann Rasmussen Centre of Excellence project), CRES and CIRCE. We thank the two reviewers and Mariana Meerhoff for valuable comments that helped shaping the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Jinlei Yu, Zhengwen Liu, Hu He, Wei Zhen, Baohua Guan, Feizhou Chen & Kuanyi Li

  2. Department of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510630, China

    Jinlei Yu, Zhengwen Liu & Ping Zhong

  3. Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research (SDC), Beijing, China

    Zhengwen Liu & Erik Jeppesen

  4. Departamento de Ecología Teórica y Aplicada, CURE-Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Maldonado, Uruguay

    Franco Teixeira-de Mello

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

    Erik Jeppesen

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  1. Jinlei Yu
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  2. Zhengwen Liu
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  3. Hu He
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Yu, J., Liu, Z., He, H. et al. Submerged macrophytes facilitate dominance of omnivorous fish in a subtropical shallow lake: implications for lake restoration. Hydrobiologia 775, 97–107 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-2717-7

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