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Trophic Interactions in Warm Freshwater Ecosystems

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Quality and Contamination".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2019) | Viewed by 34616

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Prof. Mariana Meerhoff

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Departamento de Ecología y Gestión Ambiental, CURE- Universidad de la República
Departamento de Ecología y Gestión Ambiental, Centro Universitario Regional del Este, Universidad de la República, Maldonado 20000, Uruguay
Interests: climate warming; trophic webs; ecosystem resilience; shallow lakes ecology; lowland streams ecology

Assoc. Prof. Franco Teixeira De Mello

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Departamento de Ecología y Gestión Ambiental, CURE- Universidad de la República
Interests: biomonitoring; fish ecology; stream ecology; shallow lakes; trophic interactions

Assoc. Prof. Carlos Iglesias

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Departamento de Ecología y Gestión Ambiental, CURE- Universidad de la República
Interests: trophic interactions; shallow lakes ecology; zooplankton ecology; resurrection ecology; experimental ecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Trophic interactions are key for the structure and function of ecosystems, not least of which fresh waters. Most of the theoretical and empirical studies on trophic interactions and the consequences on ecosystem functioning, with applications to ecosystem restoration and rehabilitation, have been conducted in temperate climates, but increasing evidence suggests that, under warm climates, the strength of interactions and some cascading effects may differ. Ecosystems in warm climates are also more sensitive to anthropogenic impacts, such as eutrophication and water extraction, than similar ecosystems in temperate or cold climates, imposing different scenarios for the biota.

Consequences for the theoretical basis of restoration strategies are thus being critically reviewed. These pieces of evidence are also contributing to the prediction of effects to be expected with climate warming.

In this Special Issue, we welcome articles that describe trophic interactions in warm climate freshwater ecosystems (ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, lagoons, floodplains) that contribute to increase our basic and potentially applied knowledge on the particularities of these systems. We encourage comparative studies, manipulative experiments, long-term field studies, modelling and field experiments where clear hypotheses are tested.

Prof. Mariana Meerhoff
Assoc. Prof. Franco Teixeira de Mello
Assoc. Prof. Carlos Iglesias
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Trophic cascades
predator-prey interactions
refuge effect
space-for-time substitution
ecosystem functioning
manipulative experiments
invasive species
latitudinal studies
arid ecosystems
tropical and subtropical ecosystems
Mediterranean ecosystems

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2060 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of Eichhornia crassipes (Mart) Solms on a Tropical Microcrustacean Community Based on Taxonomic and Functional Trait Diversity

by Lígia R. Stephan, Beatrix E. Beisner, Samuel G. M. Oliveira and Maria Stela M. Castilho-Noll

Water 2019, 11(11), 2423; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11112423 - 19 Nov 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2698

Abstract

Macrophytes are important structural attributes of freshwater ponds and wetlands, affecting zooplankton community composition. One of the best-known macrophytes in the world is Eichhornia crassipes, which, due to its high reproductive rate, can quickly occupy large areas of aquatic environments. However, there have been few assessments of the direct effect of this macrophyte, in the absence of predators, for tropical zooplankton communities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of E. crassipes on microcrustacean community structure using species and functional diversity, the latter providing an important tool to evaluate the response to changes in resource availability along an environment gradient. We also evaluated which functional traits were favored when the structural niche offered by submerged parts of the macrophytes was present. We conducted a 30 day mesocosm experiment (117 m³) with and without the presence of floating macrophytes (Eichhornia crassipes) inserted along one edge of the mesocosms. Treatment effects on microcrustacean density and community structure using taxonomic and functional classification approaches were assessed. There was a positive association between macrophyte presence and microcrustacean diversity for both diversity types, showing that the presence of macrophytes enhanced the niche availability for the microcrustacean community, likely through changes to resource diversity through habitat structure provision. In the presence of macrophytes, the abundance of species with the following feeding traits increased: burrowing, benthic habitat preference, and herbivore–detritivore and omnivore–carnivore trophic groups. Results showed that the species capable of using the niche offered by submerged macrophyte structures had benthic traits, enabling their co-existence with species possessing primarily pelagic traits. Using a functional approach, our study demonstrated that Eichhornia crassipes can structure microcrustacean communities and promote diversity, likely via increased habitat diversity, which enables the co-existence of species possessing different adaptations to acquiring resources available in the environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Interactions in Warm Freshwater Ecosystems)

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13 pages, 1102 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Short-Term Interactive Effects of Experimental Heat Waves and Turbidity Pulses on the Foraging Success of a Subtropical Invertivorous Fish

by Bruno R. S. Figueiredo, Clementina Calvo, Anahí López-Rodríguez, Roger P. Mormul, Franco Teixeira-de Mello, Evanilde Benedito and Mariana Meerhoff

Water 2019, 11(10), 2109; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11102109 - 10 Oct 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3115

Abstract

Sudden increases in temperature and turbidity in aquatic ecosystems are expected for different regions in the future, as a result of the more frequent extreme climatic events that are predicted. The consequences of these abrupt changes in the outcomes of predator–prey interactions are unknown. Here, we tested the effects of a heat wave and a turbidity pulse on the foraging success of a subtropical cichlid fish (Gymnogeophagus terrapurpura) on amphipods (Hyalella curvispina). We carried out a short-term experiment combining treatments of turbidity (3 and 100 nephelometric turbidity units [NTU]) and water temperature (19.2, 22.2, 25.2 and 27.0 °C), considering potential differences given by fish length. Changes in water temperature did not promote significant changes in prey consumption. Higher turbidity, in contrast, decreased prey consumption. Also, we found that fish with different body lengths consumed a similar amount of prey under clear waters, but, in turbid waters, bigger individuals were more efficient than the smaller individuals. This finding is an empirical demonstration that the effect of increased turbidity on predation rate depends upon predator body size, and it suggests that bigger body sizes may help overcome turbidity-associated limitations in finding and capturing prey. Our short-term results suggest that, if turbidity pulses and heat waves become more frequent in the future, the outcome of fish–invertebrate interaction can be affected by local characteristics such as fish population size distribution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Interactions in Warm Freshwater Ecosystems)

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10 pages, 579 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Carbon Transfer from Cyanobacteria to Pelagic and Benthic Consumers in a Subtropical Lake: Evidence from a ¹³C Labelling Experiment

by Jinlei Yu, Hu He, Zhengwen Liu, Erik Jeppesen, Feizhou Chen and Yongdong Zhang

Water 2019, 11(8), 1536; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11081536 - 25 Jul 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2673

Abstract

Eutrophication of lakes often results in dominance of cyanobacteria, which may potentially lead to serious blooms and toxic water. However, cyanobacterial detritus may act as an important carbon source for aquatic organisms. Using stable isotope carbon (¹³C) as a tracer, we assessed the carbon transfer from cyanobacteria to pelagic and benthic consumers in a 28-day outdoor mesocosm (~130 L) labelling experiment established in Lake Taihu, China, during a Microcystis aeruginosa bloom. The different organisms were labelled differently after addition of the labelled Microcystis detritus to the water. δ¹³C of particulate organic matter and of cladoceran zooplankton peaked earlier than for larger invertebrate consumers. Among the pelagic species, Daphnia similis had the highest Δδ¹³C, while the two snail species Radix swinhoei and Bellamya aeruginosa had lower but similar Δδ¹³C. The bivalves showed relatively modest changes in δ¹³C. The δ¹³C of Anodonta woodiana and Unio douglasiae showed a marginal though not significant increase, while a marked increase occurred for Arconaia lanceolate peaking on day 20, and Corbicula fluminea a slight increase peaking on day 9. Our results suggest that carbon from cyanobacteria can be incorporated by pelagic and some benthic consumers and eventually be transferred to higher trophic levels. Cyanobacterial carbon may, therefore, be considered an important carbon source supporting the entire food web during blooms, even if the cyanobacteria are not consumed directly. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Interactions in Warm Freshwater Ecosystems)

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26 pages, 3029 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Diets and Trophic Structure of Fish Assemblages in a Large and Unexplored Subtropical River: The Uruguay River

by Anahí López-Rodríguez, Ivana Silva, Sunshine de Ávila-Simas, Samanta Stebniki, Rodrigo Bastian, Marthoni Vinicius Massaro, Joaquin Pais, Giancarlo Tesitore, Franco Teixeira de Mello, Alejandro D’Anatro, Nicolas Vidal, Mariana Meerhoff, David A. Reynalte-Tataje, Evoy Zaniboni-Filho and Iván González-Bergonzoni

Water 2019, 11(7), 1374; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11071374 - 04 Jul 2019

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 5749

Abstract

The Neotropics represent a hotspot for freshwater biodiversity with vast number of fish species of scarce ecological knowledge. This holds true for the Uruguay River, where fish assemblages and their diets remain unexplored. Fish assemblages were surveyed in 14 sites along the river main course, from headwaters to mouth (approximately 1800 km), with the aim to identify the trophic roles of fishes and to describe trophic structure of these assemblages, following standardized sampling campaigns and laboratory procedures. One hundred species (2309 gut contents) were analysed and classified into four trophic groups subdivided into eight lower-level groups: Piscivore, piscivore-invertivore, detritivore, omnivore-detritivore, omnivore-invertivore, omnivore-planktivore and omnivore-herbivore. The trophic structure of the assemblages varied along the river, with the relative species richness of fish consuming terrestrial invertebrates increasing towards the middle river section, probably driven by the large floodplains in that areas, supporting global theories such as the flood pulse concept. This study describes the feeding habits of fish along the Uruguay River, being the first dietary description for 29 species. This knowledge is essential for management and conservation, serving as baseline in the context of future environmental changes while generating novel evidence on the functioning of ecosystems in this scarcely studied climatic region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Interactions in Warm Freshwater Ecosystems)

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16 pages, 3195 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Beta Diversity Partitioning and Drivers of Variations in Fish Assemblages in a Headwater Stream: Lijiang River, China

by Liangliang Huang, Jian Huang, Zhiqiang Wu, Yuanmin Mo, Qi Zou, Erik Jeppesen and Naicheng Wu

Water 2019, 11(4), 680; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11040680 - 02 Apr 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3553

Abstract

Beta diversity partitioning has currently received much attention in research of fish assemblages. However, the main drivers, especially the contribution of spatial and hydrological variables for species composition and beta diversity of fish assemblages are less well studied. To link species composition to multiple abiotic variables (i.e., local environmental variables, hydrological variables, and spatial variables), the relative roles of abiotic variables in shaping fish species composition and beta diversity (i.e., overall turnover, replacement, and nestedness) were investigated in the upstream Lijiang River. Species composition showed significant correlations with environmental, hydrological, and spatial variables, and variation partitioning revealed that the local environmental and spatial variables outperformed hydrological variables, and especially abiotic variables explained a substantial part of the variation in the fish composition (43.2%). The overall species turnover was driven mostly by replacement (87.9% and 93.7% for Sørensen and Jaccard indices, respectively) rather than nestedness. Mantel tests indicated that the overall species turnover (ß_SOR and ß_JAC) and replacement (ß_SIM and ß_JTU) were significantly related to hydrological, environmental, and spatial heterogeneity, whereas nestedness (ß_SNE or ß_JNE) was insignificantly correlated with abiotic variables (P > 0.05). Moreover, the pure effect of spatial variables on overall species turnover (ß_SOR and ß_JAC) and replacement (ß_SIM and ß_JTU), and the pure effect of hydrological variables on replacement (ß_SIM and ß_JTU), were not important (P > 0.05). Our findings demonstrated the relative importance of interactions among environmental, hydrological, and spatial variables in structuring fish assemblages in headwater streams; these fish assemblages tend to be compositionally distinct, rather than nested derivatives of one another. Our results, therefore, indicate that maintaining natural flow dynamics and habitat continuity are of vital importance for conservation of fish assemblages and diversity in headwater streams. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Interactions in Warm Freshwater Ecosystems)

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9 pages, 1297 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Periods of Extreme Shallow Depth Hinder but Do Not Stop Long-Term Improvements of Water Quality in Lake Apopka, Florida (USA)

by Gaohua Ji and Karl Havens

Water 2019, 11(3), 538; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11030538 - 15 Mar 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3665

Abstract

We recently documented that during times of extreme shallow depth, there are severe effects on the water quality of one of the largest shallow lakes in the southeastern USA—Lake Apopka. During those times, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and toxic cyanobacteria blooms increase, and Secchi transparency (SD) declines. The lake recovers when water levels rise in subsequent years. In this paper, we determined whether extreme shallow depth events, particularly when they re-occur frequently, can stop the long-term recovery of a shallow eutrophic lake undergoing nutrient reduction programs. Apopka is an ideal location for this case study because the State of Florida has spent over 200 million USD in order to reduce the inputs of P to the lake, to build large filter marshes to treat the water, and to remove large quantities of benthivorous fish that contribute to internal P loading. We obtained data from 1985 to 2018, a period that had relatively stable water levels for nearly 15 years, and then three successive periods of extreme shallow depth, and we examined the long-term trends in TP, TN, Chl-a, and SD. There were significant decreasing trends in all of these water quality variables, and even though water quality deteriorated during periods of extreme shallow depth, and reduced the slope of the long-term trends, it did not stop the recovery. However, in the future, if climate change leads to more frequent shallow depth events, which in lakes such as Apopka, result in the concentration of water and nutrients, it is unclear whether the resilience we document here will continue, vs. the lake not responding to further nutrient input reductions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Interactions in Warm Freshwater Ecosystems)

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15 pages, 3316 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Crucian Carp (Carassius carassius) Strongly Affect C/N/P Stoichiometry of Suspended Particulate Matter in Shallow Warm Water Eutrophic Lakes

by Hu He, Yanqing Han, Qisheng Li, Erik Jeppesen, Kuanyi Li, Jinlei Yu and Zhengwen Liu

Water 2019, 11(3), 524; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11030524 - 13 Mar 2019

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 3490

Abstract

Crucian carp (Carassius carassius) is a key fish species in most Chinese subtropical and tropical shallow lakes. Through sediment feeding, crucian carp could greatly change water turbidity and nutrient levels, as well as the abundance of herbivorous consumers, which may have important influences on seston element stoichiometry. However, so far, experimental studies on this topic are lacking. We conducted a 36-day mesocosm experiment to explore the effects of crucian carp on water physicochemical and biological properties, and C/N/P ratios in suspended particulate matter (SPM) under eutrophic conditions. Our results provided three major findings: (1) Crucian carp resuspended sediments and along with them, reduced light penetration and lower light/total phosphorus (TP) ratios. (2) Crucian carp reduced biomasses of both zooplankton and macrozoobenthos, whereas their effect on phytoplankton was weak, potentially because of resuspension-induced light limitation. (3) Both C/P and N/P ratios in SPM were significant lower in mesocosms with crucian carp than in fish-free controls, which may be attributed to the high contribution of P-rich sediments and low light to nutrient supply caused by fish-induced resuspension. Our results suggest that besides planktivorous fish, benthivore (e.g., crucian carp) in warm shallow waters could also affect pelagic C/N/P stoichiometry via sediment feeding, which may further influence energy transfer efficiency in lake food chain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Interactions in Warm Freshwater Ecosystems)

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18 pages, 1598 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Plankton Taxonomic and Size Diversity of Mediterranean Brackish Ponds in Spring: Influence of Abiotic and Biotic Factors

by Serena Sgarzi, Anna Badosa, Àngels Leiva-Presa, Lluís Benejam, Rocío López-Flores and Sandra Brucet

Water 2019, 11(1), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11010106 - 09 Jan 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4681

Abstract

In this study, performed in Mediterranean brackish ponds during spring season, we assessed the effects of biotic interactions and abiotic factors on the size and taxonomic structure of the phytoplankton and zooplankton. We used a taxonomic and a size diversity index as a descriptor of the community structure. We predicted that the size diversity of each trophic level would be mainly related to biotic interactions, such as size-based fish predation (in the case of zooplankton) and food resource availability (in the case of phytoplankton), whereas taxonomic diversity would be more affected by abiotic variables (e.g., conductivity, pond morphology). Our results showed a negative relationship between phytoplankton size diversity and food resource availability leading to low size diversities under food scarcity due to dominance of small species. Conductivity also negatively affected the phytoplankton size diversity, although slightly. Regarding zooplankton size diversity, none of predictors tested seemed to influence this index. Similar fish size diversities among ponds may prevent a significant effect of fish predation on size diversity of zooplankton. As expected, taxonomic diversity of phytoplankton and zooplankton was related to abiotic variables (specifically pond morphometry) rather than biotic interactions, which are usually body size dependent, especially in these species-poor brackish environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Interactions in Warm Freshwater Ecosystems)

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14 pages, 1411 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Combined Effects of Experimental Warming and Eutrophication on Phytoplankton Dynamics and Nitrogen Uptake

by Chen Yu, Chao Li, Tao Wang, Min Zhang and Jun Xu

Water 2018, 10(8), 1057; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10081057 - 09 Aug 2018

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4241

Abstract

Shallow lakes are highly vulnerable to damages caused by human activities and warming trends. To assess whether and how community structures of phytoplankton and nitrogen uptake respond to the combined effects of elevated temperature and eutrophication, we performed a mesocosm experiment in field by combining a 4.5 °C increase in temperature and the addition of phosphorus. Our results demonstrated that the combination of rising temperatures and phosphorus loading stimulated the maximum biomass built up by the phytoplankton community, and changed the phytoplankton community by significantly increasing the number of Chlorophyta and Cyanophyta, and decreasing that of Cryptophyta. We also examined the effects of climate warming and eutrophication on phytoplankton nitrogen uptake and dynamics using ¹⁵N tracer techniques. The addition of phosphorus slightly increased the phytoplankton nitrate uptake velocity and relative preference index, but decreased the nitrate uptake turnover time. Warming relatively increased the ammonium uptake velocity and the relative preference index, but decreased the ammonium turnover time. In kinetic studies, NH₄⁺ exhibited a higher maximum uptake rate (V_max) and a lower half-saturation constant (K_s) than NO₃⁻ substrates due to temperature elevation and the addition of phosphorus. Hence, warming and eutrophication increased the capacity of phytoplankton for NH₄⁺ uptake and their affinity at low substrate concentrations. Thus, the combined effects of climate warming and phosphorus nutrient availability may increase the prevalence of Chlorophyta and Cyanophyta, and change the nitrogen cycling of aquatic ecosystems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Trophic Interactions in Warm Freshwater Ecosystems)

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