0000000000791005
AUTHOR
Yongjiu Cai
Do the ecological drivers of lake littoral communities match and lead to congruence between organism groups?
AbstractLake littoral environments are heterogeneous, and different organisms typically show specific responses to this environmental variation. We examined local environmental and spatial factors affecting lake littoral biodiversity and the structuring of assemblages of phytoplankton, zooplankton and macroinvertebrates within and among three basins of a large lake system. We explored congruence of species composition and species richness among the studied organism groups to evaluate their general indicator potential to represent spatial variation in other groups. We expected that effects of water chemistry on plankton assemblages were stronger than effects of habitat characteristics. In co…
Vertical sediment migrations of dominant midge species in subtropical lakes with implications for bioassessment
Abstract Propsilocerus akamusi (Diptera: Chironomidae) is a dominant species in numerous eutrophic lakes and they could burrow into deep sediments (>30 cm) during summer months. However, common-used grab samplers are efficient in collecting surface-dwelling species (
Catastrophic effects of sand mining on macroinvertebrates in a large shallow lake with implications for management
Sand mining is a human activity that is increasing in inland waters and has profound effects on entire aquatic ecosystems. However, current knowledge of the effects of sand mining on freshwater lake ecosystems remains limited, especially for biotic communities. Here, we investigated the responses of macroinvertebrates to indiscriminate sand mining in a large shallow lake of China. Our results indicated that sand mining significantly increased the content of suspended particulate matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and chlorophyll a in the water column both in the sand mining area and the area adjacent to the dredging activities. While there was significantly lower total nitrogen and th…
The adaptations to tube-dwelling life of Propsilocerus akamusi (Diptera: Chironomidae) larvae and its eutrophication-tolerant mechanisms
Propsilocerus akamusi (Diptera: Chironomidae) is a dominant macroinvertebrate species in many eutrophic lakes in subtropical and temperate zones. P. akamusi larvae can migrate deep into the sediment (>30 cm) during summer where is no oxygen. However, to our knowledge, the specific adaptive tactics of its tube-dwelling life (>30 cm) and underlying mechanisms why this species is favored by nutrient-rich lakes remain limited. With the understanding above-mentioned issues, we can provide important information for the development of sensitive biomonitoring. We examined monthly morphological dynamics and physiological adaptations of P. akamusi to anoxic conditions, and environmental relationships…
Lakes in the era of global change: moving beyond single‐lake thinking in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services
The Anthropocene presents formidable threats to freshwater ecosystems. Lakes are especially vulnerable and important at the same time. They cover only a small area worldwide but harbour high levels of biodiversity and contribute disproportionately to ecosystem services. Lakes differ with respect to their general type (e.g. land-locked, drainage, floodplain and large lakes) and position in the landscape (e.g. highland versus lowland lakes), which contribute to the dynamics of these systems. Lakes should be generally viewed as ‘meta-systems’, whereby biodiversity is strongly affected by species dispersal, and ecosystem dynamics are contributed by the flow of matter and substances among locati…
Environmental filtering and spatial effects on metacommunity organisation differ among littoral macroinvertebrate groups deconstructed by biological traits
We examined spatial and environmental effects on the deconstructed assemblages of littoral macroinvertebrates within a large lake. We deconstructed assemblages by three biological trait groups: body size, dispersal mode and oviposition behaviour. We expected that spatial effects on assemblage structuring decrease and environmental effects increase with increasing body size. We also expected stronger environmental filtering and weaker spatial effect on the assemblages of flying species compared with assemblages of non-flying species. Stronger effect of environmental filtering was expected on the assemblages with species attaching eggs compared with assemblages of species with free eggs. We u…