Long-term changes of Copepoda community (1957-1996) in a subtropical Chinese lake stocked densely with planktivorous filter-feeding silver and bighead carp

In contrast to the relatively well documented impact of particulate-feeding fish on zooplankton communities, little attention has been devoted to the impact of filter-feeding fish. Filter-feeding silver and bighead carp are the most intensively cultured fish species in Asia and comprise much of the production of Chinese aquaculture. However, little information is known about the impact of either fish on the zooplankton community. Long-term changes in the Copepoda community (1957-1996) were studied at two sampling stations of a subtropical Chinese lake (Lake Donghu) dominated by silver and bighead carp. For both calanoids and cyclopoids, the littoral station (I) was much more resource profitable than the pelagic station (II). There has been a tremendous increase in the annual fish catch over the past 30 years due to the increased stocking with fingerlings of the two carp species. There was a notably higher fish density at Station I than at Station II. Cyclopoid abundance was notably higher at Station I than at Station II during the 1950s to the 1980s, while the reverse became true in the 1990s. This is probably because when fish abundance increased to an extremely high level, the impact of fish predation on the cyclopoids became more important than that of food resources at the littoral station. At both stations, cyclopoid abundance was relatively low in spite of the presence of abundant prey. Similarly, calanoid density did not differ significantly between the two stations in the 1950s and 1960s, but was significantly lower at Station I than at Station II during the 1980s and 1990s. Such changes are attributed to the gradient of fish predation between the stations and an increasing predation pressure by the fish. The increased fish predation also correlated with a shift in summer-dominant calanoids from larger species to smaller ones. In conclusion, the predaceous cyclopoids are affected by fish predation to a much lesser extent than the herbivorous calanoids, and therefore increased predation by filter-feeding fish results in a definite increase in the cyclopoid/calanoid ratio. Predation by filter-feeding fish has been a driving force in shaping the copepod community structure of Lake Donghu during the past decades.

Changes of Leptodora kindti abundance (1957-1996) in a planktivorous fishes-dominated subtropical Chinese lake (Lake Donghu)

The changes of L. kindti density from 1957 to 1996 were studied in a shallow, eutrophic Chinese lake, Lake Donghu. Despite the fact that the fish yield of planktivorous fish (silver carp and bighead carp) has increased steadily, the population density of L. kindti has also increased since 1957 and peaked in 1982/1983, The increase of both fish and L. kindti densities during this period may have benefitted from a considerable increase in the densities of their zooplankton prey. and fish predation on L. kindti might have been minor. As the fish yield increased further, their predation began to suppress most zooplankton prey including L. kindti. The largely increased fish predation on L. kindti is also evidenced by the remarkable decline of their body length after 1984. The density of L. kindti was significantly higher at the pelagic station (II) than at the littoral station (I), although for L. kindti, the littoral zone was significantly more resource profitable than the pelagic zone. The gradient of fish predation (more fish in the littoral zone) is the most likely explanation, since L. kindti is reported to be a preferred prey for many planktivorous fishes. The maximum density of L. kindti was 1.78 ind./I (on Aug. 17, 1984) at Station I and 1.55 ind./I (on Sep. 13, 1985) at Station II, respectively, which are close to those in several other eutrophic lakes.

PLANKTON AND SESTON STRUCTURE IN A SHALLOW, EUTROPHIC SUBTROPICAL CHINESE LAKE

The seasonal dynamics in the nutrient concentrations, chlorophyll-a amount (Chl-a), total algal volume (CV), Chl-a/CV ratio, seston structure were studied at two sampling stations in a shallow, highly eutrophicated subtropic lake (the Guozheng Hu area of the East Lake) on the plain of the middle basin of the Chang Jiang (the Yangtze River) of China. The lake ecosystem of the Guozheng Hu area is dominated by two planktivorous fishes (silver carp and bighead carp), phytoplankton and zooplankton. Macrophytes are extremely scarce in this area. Concentrations of the total dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus in the Guozheng Hu area in 1990 were very high. Fish yield, of which, more than 90 % was composed of silver carp and bighead carp in the Guozheng Hu area was very high (ca. 1140 kg/ha or 45.6 g/m3 in 1990). Grazing pressure by the fishes on the plankton community is considered to be rather strong. The annual average biomass of zooplankton was ca. 1/3 - 1/2 that of phytoplankton. On the average, dry matter in the living plankton only constituted ca. 3-7 % of the total dry seston, and plankton carbon only constituted ca. 5 - 10 % of the seston carbon. The present results indicate that, in the Guozheng Hu area of the East Lake, of the organic part of the seston, detritus is quantitatively an important constituent, while living plankton is only a very small component.

Intra-habitat heterogeneity of microbial food web structure under the regime of eutrophication and sediment resuspension in the large subtropical shallow Lake Taihu, China

Planktonic microbial community structure and classical food web were investigated in the large shallow eutrophic Lake Taihu (2338 km(2), mean depth 1.9 m) located in subtropical Southeast China. The water column of the lake was sampled biweekly at two sites located 22 km apart over a period of twelve month. Site 1 is under the regime of heavy eutrophication while Site 2 is governed by wind-driven sediment resuspension. Within-lake comparison indicates that phosphorus enrichment resulted in increased abundance of microbial components. However, the coupling between total phosphorus and abundance of microbial components was different between the two sites. Much stronger coupling was observed at Site 1 than at Site 2. The weak coupling at Site 2 was mainly caused by strong sediment resuspension, which limited growth of phytoplankton and, consequently, growth of bacterioplankton and other microbial components. High percentages of attached bacteria, which were strongly correlated with the biomass of phytoplankton, especially Microcystis spp., were found at Site 1 during summer and early autumn, but no such correlation was observed at Site 2. This potentially leads to differences in carbon flow through microbial food web at different locations. Overall, significant heterogeneity of microbial food web structure between the two sites was observed. Site-specific differences in nutrient enrichment (i.e. nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment resuspension were identified as driving forces of the observed intra-habitat differences in food web structure.

Effects of climate variability on transparency and thermal structure in subtropical, monomictic Lake Annie, Florida

Lake Annie is a small (37 ha), relatively deep (21 m) sinkhole lake on the Lake Wales Ridge (LWR) of central Florida with a long history of study, including monthly limnological monitoring since June, 1983. The record shows high variability in Secchi disc transparency, which ranged from < 1 to 15 m with a trend toward decreasing values over the latter decade of record. We examined available regional meteorological, groundwater and limnological data to determine the drivers and thermal consequences of variability in water transparency. While total nutrient concentrations and chlorophyll-a were highest during years of low transparency, stepwise regression showed that none of these had a signifi cant effect on transparency after water color was taken into account. Repeated years of high precipitation between 1993–2005 caused an increase in water table height, increasing the transport of dissolved substances from the vegetated watershed into the lake. Groundwater stage explained 73 % of the interannual variability in water transparency. Transparency, in turn, explained 85 % of the interannual variability in the heat budget for the lake, which ranged from 1.8 × 108 to 4.1 × 108 Joules m–2 yr–1, encompassing the range reported across Florida lakes. While surface water temperature was not affected by transparency, depths below 5 m warmed faster during the stratifi ed period during years having a lower rate of light extinction. We show that an increase in precipitation of 20 cm per year reduces the depth of the summer euphotic zone and thermocline by 1.9 and 1.6 m, respectively, and causes a 1-month reduction in the duration of winter mixing in this monomictic lake. Because biota have been shown to respond to shifts in light and heat distribution of much smaller magnitude than exhibited here, our work suggests that subtle changes in precipitation linked to climate fl uctuations may have signifi cant physical as well as biotic consequences.

Multidecadal climate oscillations detected in a transparency record from a subtropical Florida lake

Synchronous interannual variability in water transparency observed in neighboring lakes has been linked to regional precipitation and resultant runoff of dissolved organic material, but many climate forcings oscillate over time scales longer than most limnological records can detect. A strong relationship (R2 5 0.86) between transparency and the previous two years’ rainfall and lake stage in a 25-yr record from a Florida lake enabled us to hindcast transparency from a longer 75-yr record of rainfall and lake stage. Predictions revealed a ,30-yr cycle in transparency linked to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). Transparency was greatest (4–8 m) in the cool phase of the AMO (,1962–1993) associated with below-average rainfall in south Florida and lowest (0.1– 3.0 m) during two warm phases (,1932–1961, 1994–present) associated with above-average, but more variable, annual rainfall. Models that predict effects of large-scale hydrologic restoration projects on solute export from South Florida’s expansive wetlands need to account for recent entry into a warm AMO phase, where teleconnections between the AMO phases and runoff are opposite of those shown for the U.S. interior.

Nitrogen dynamics in large shallow eutrophic Lake Chaohu, China

Temporal and spatial dynamics of nitrogen in lake and interstitial water were studied monthly in a large shallow, eutrophic lake in subtropical China from October 2002 to September 2003. The distribution of nitrogen was consistent with the idea that high nitrogen concentrations in the western part of the lake resulted from high levels of the nutrients from the surrounding cities through sewage-drainage systems. Nitrate was the predominant form of nitrogen in the overlying water, while ammonium was predominant in the interstitial water, indicating that strong oxidative nutrient regeneration occurred near the sediment-water interface. Nitrate could be an important dissolved inorganic matter source for phytoplankton, which in turn influenced the seasonal variations of nitrate concentrations in lake water. Significant positive correlation between ammonium fluxes and water temperature was observed and could probably be attributed to the intensified ammonification and nitrate reduction with increased temperature. Positive correlation between ammonium fluxes and algae biomass and Chl a concentrations may indicate that phytoplankton was an important factor driving ammonium fluxes in our study lake, and vice versa that higher fluxes of ammonium supported a higher biomass of the phytoplankton.

Genetic diversity of plankton community as depicted by PCR-DGGE fingerprinting and its relation to morphological composition and environmental factors in lake donghu

To collect information about the genetic diversity of the plankton community and to study how plankton respond to environmental conditions, plankton samples were collected from five stations representing different trophic levels in a shallow, eutrophic lake (Lake Donghu), and investigated by PCR-DGGE fingerprinting. A total of 100 bands (61 of 16S rDNA bands and 39 of 18S rDNA bands) were detected. The DGGE bands unique to any single station accounted for 38% of the total bands, whereas common bands detected at all five stations accounted for only 11%. Using UPGMA clustering and MDS ordination of DGGE fingerprints, stations I and II were found to initially group together into one cluster, which was later joined by station V. Stations III and IV were isolated into two separate groups of one station each. Some differences in grouping relationships were found when analysis was completed on the basis of chemical characteristics and morphological composition, with zooplankton composition showing the greatest variability. However, the most similar stations (I and II) were always initially grouped into one cluster. Moreover, stations that exhibited the same or similar trophic level (stations III and IV), but different concentrations of heavy metals, were further differentiated by the DGGE method. Results of the present study indicated that PCR-DGGE fingerprinting was more sensitive than the traditional methods, as other studies suggested. Additionally, PCR-DGGE appears to be more appropriate for diversity characterization of the plankton community, as it is more canonical, systematic, and effective. Most importantly, fingerprinting results are more convenient for the comparative analyses between different studies. Therefore, the use of the described fingerprinting analysis may provide an operable and sensitive biomonitoring approach to identify critical, and potentially negative, stress within an aquatic ecosystem.

Crustacean zooplankton distribution patterns and their biomass as related to trophic indicators of 29 shallow subtropical lakes

A comparative limnological study was carried out to present a snapshot of crustacean zooplankton communities and their relations to environmental factors to test whether there is a consistent relationship between crustacean biomass and trophic indicators among lake groups with similar trophic conditions. The study lakes showed a wide range of trophic status, with total phosphorus (TP) ranging from 0.008 to 1.448mgL(-1), and chlorophyll a from 0.7 to 146.1 mu g L-1, respectively. About 38 species of Crustacea were found, of which Cladocera were represented by 25 taxa (20 genera), and Copepoda by 13 taxa (I I genera). The most common and dominant species were Bosmina coregoni, Moina micrura, Diaphanosoma brachyurum, Cyclops vicinus, Thermocyclops taihokuensis, Mesocyclops notius and Sinocalanus dorrii. Daphnia was rare in abundance. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that except for four species (D. hyalina, S. dorrii, C. vicinus and M. micrura), almost all the dominant species had the same preference for environmental factors. Temperature, predatory cyclopoids and planktivorous fishes seem to be the key factors determining species distribution. TP was a relatively better trophic indicator than chlorophyll a to predict crustacean biomass. Within the three groups of lakes, however, there was no consistent relationship between crustacean biomass and trophic indicators. The possible reason might be that top-down and bottom-up control on crustaceans vary with lake trophic state. The lack of significant negative correlation between crustacean biomass and chlorophyll a suggests that there was little control of phytoplankton biomass by macrozooplankton in these shallow subtropical lakes. (c) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Driving forces shaping phytoplankton assemblages in two subtropical plateau lakes with contrasting trophic status

1. We studied driving forces shaping phytoplankton assemblages in two subtropical plateau lakes with contrasting trophic status, the oligotrophic deep Lake Fuxian and the eutrophic shallow Lake Xingyun. 2. Phytoplankton samples were taken monthly for a year and phytoplankton species were sorted into the main taxonomic groups and associations proposed by Reynolds. A canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used to test the occurrence of these classification schemes and to determine their discriminatory power. 3. The results suggest that the major driving forces in Lake Fuxian were physical variables, and particularly the underwater light climate, whereas, nutrients were the important driving force in Lake Xingyun. 4. Top-down control through zooplankton grazing in Lake Fuxian was hardly ever a significant determinant itself, because of the scarcity of zooplankton and their low grazing efficiency of predation while a dominance of inedible cyanobacteria throughout the year rendered top-down controls ineffective failing in Lake Xingyun. Hence phytoplankton communities in both lakes appear to be regulated primarily by bottom-up controls.

Phytoplankton biomass in relation to nutrients and zooplankton in thirty subtropical lakes adjacent to the Yangtze River, China

A total of 30 shallow lakes, located along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, were studied to assess the relative importance of nutrients and zooplankton biomass in determining the phytoplankton biomass in subtropical China. Zooplankton biomass and nutrients both varied greatly in these lakes. Factor analysis and multiple linear regression showed that phytoplankton biomass was positively correlated with TN, NH4+, NO3- and TP, while it did not show any negative relationship to zooplankton biomass. Meanwhile, the phytoplankton biomass showed contrary relationships to the mass ratio of TN/TP in spring and summer, suggesting that in nutrient-richer lakes the dominant phytoplankton species have different preferences for TN/TP ratio. The insignificant top-down control of phytoplankton biomass may be attributed to the dominance of small-sized crustaceans and low crustacean biomass resulting from cyanobacterial dominance and planktivorous fish predation as well as other factors. Thus, it is likely that nutrients were more important than zooplankton biomass in explaining the total variance of phytoplaDkton biomass in these subtropical lakes.

Nonylphenol and octylphenol in urban eutrophic lakes of the subtropical China

The paper studied two estrogenic pollutants, 4-nonylphenol (NP) and 4-tert-octylphenol (OP) in water, suspended particle (SP) and sediments in urban eutrophic lakes. The concentrations of NP ranged from 1.94 to 32.85 mu g/l, 0.876 to 31.13 mu g/l and 3.54 to 32.43 mu g/g dry weight (dw) in water, suspended particle (SP) and sediments, respectively, and that of OP from 0.027 to 1.44 mu g/l, 0.008 to 1.777 mu g/l and 0.058 to 1.245 mu g/g dw in water, suspended particle (SP) and sediments, respectively. An increasing trend in the concentration was noticed in all matrices close to the sewage inlets, which was found to be the major factor affecting the spatial distribution of alkylphenols (APs) in the lakes. Due to restoration of submerged macrophytes, which might accumulate APs, the contaminations of APs in the Little Moon Lake (LML) and the Little Lotus Lake (LLL) were lower than those in the Big, Moon Lake (BML) and the Bier Lotus Lake (BLL). A reasonable correlation of NP and OP was obtained among water, suspended particle and sediment. The possible environmental stress of APs concentration on aquatic organisms in Wuhan urban lakes was also discussed.

Development of the microbial communities in Lake Donghu in relation to water quality

There is increasing recognition that protozoa is very useful in monitoring and evaluating water ecological healthy and quality. In order to study the relationship between structure and function of protozoan communities and water qualities, six sampling stations were set on Lake Donghu, a hypereutrophic subtropical Chinese lake. Microbial communities and protists sampling from the six stations was conducted by PFU (Polyurethane foam unit) method. Species number (S), diversity index (DI), percentage of phytomastigophra, community pollution value (CPV), community similarity and heterophy index (HI) were mensurated. The measured indicators of water quality included total phosphorus (TP), dissolved oxygen (DO), Chemical oxygen demand (COD), NH4 (+), NO2 (-) and NO3-. Every month water samples from stations I, II, III, IV were chemically analyzed for a whole year, Among the chemically analyzed stations, station I was the most heavily polluted, station II was the next, stations III and IV had similar pollution degrees. The variable tendencies of COD, TP, NH3, NO2-, NO3-, and DO during the year was approximately coincident among the six stations. Analysis from the community parameters showed that the pollution of station 0 was much more serious than others, and station V was the most slight. Of the community parameters, CPV and HI were sensitive in reflecting the variables of the water quality. Community similarity index was also sensitive in dividing water qualities and the water quality status of different stations could be correctly classified by the cluster analysis. DI could reflect the tendency of water quality gradient, species number and percentage of Phytomastigophora was not obvious in indicating the water quality gradient.

Relationships between microcystins and environmental parameters in 30 subtropical shallow lakes along the Yangtze River, China

1. A survey of 30 subtropical shallow lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River area in China was conducted during July-September in 2003-2004 to study how environmental and biological variables were associated with the concentration of the cyanobacterial toxin microcystin (MC). 2. Mean MC concentration in seasonally river-connected lakes (SL) was nearly 33 times that in permanently river-connected lakes (RL), and more than six times that in city lakes (NC) and non-urban lakes (NE) which were not connected to the Yangtze River. The highest MC (8.574 mu g L-1) was detected in Dianshan Lake. 3. MC-RR and MC-LR were the primary toxin variants in our data. MC-RR, MC-YR and MC-LR were significantly correlated with Ch1 a, biomass of cyanobacteria, Microcystis and Anabaena, indicating that microcystins were mainly produced by Microcystis and Anabaena sp. in these lakes. 4. Nonlinear interval maxima regression indicated that the relationships of Secchi depth, total nitrogen (TN) : total phosphorus UP) and NH4+ with MC were characterised by negative exponential curves. The relationships between MC and TN, TP, NO3- + NO2- were fitted well with a unimodal curve. 5. Multivariate analyses by principal component and classifying analysis indicated that MC was mainly affected by Microcystis among the biological factors, and was closely related with temperature among physicochernical factors.

Detection of extracellular phosphatases in natural spring phytoplankton of a shallow eutrophic lake (Donghu, China)

The species-specific production of extracellular phosphatases in phytoplankton of a subtropical polymictic take was investigated from March to May 2004. Phosphatase activity was detected directly at the site of enzyme action using the enzyme-labelled fluorescence (ELF) technique. Size fractionation of bulk phosphatase activity (PA), concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), chlorophyll a, and phytoplankton composition were determined in parallel. Phosphatase-positive cells were present in every phytoplankton sample; labelled cells were detected in 33 algal taxa, including many chlorophytes, dinoflagellates and some diatoms, but never among cyanobacteria. We recorded an unusual dinoflagellate bloom (Peridiniopsis sp.), of which similar to 25% of the cells were phosphatase-positive. Several populations were partly phosphatase-positive whenever present, while some other species never showed any activity. The production of extracellular phosphatases was not primarily regulated by ambient P concentrations; algae produced these enzymes even if SRP concentrations were high. Moreover, heterotrophic nanoflagellates most probably contributed to the pool of particle-bound PA in some samples.