Macrozoobenthos in 2 shallow, mesotrophic Chinese lakes with contrasting sources of primary production

Abstract

Comparative studies on macrozoobenthos were done in 2 shallow mesotrophic lakes in the middle basins of the Yangtze River, China: Lake Biandantang where macrophytes were abundant, and Lake Houhu where macrophytes were scarce. Samples were taken monthly at 4 stations in each lake from April 1997 to March 1999, and a total of 67 and 31 taxa of macrozoobenthos were recorded in Lake Biandantang and Lake Houhu, respectively. Both annual mean density and biomass of macrozoobenthos were higher in Lake Biandantang than in Lake Houhu: 780 vs 532 indivials/m2 and 37.1 vs 25.9 g wet mass/m2, respectively. Abundance of functional feeding groups followed the order: scraper > collector > predator > shredder in Lake Biandantang, and collector > predator > scraper > shredder in Lake Houhu. Only 1 density peak occurred from winter to early spring in Lake Houhu; however, in Lake Biandantang, there were 2 peaks, the winter peak and spring peak. K-dominance curves and Shannon–Wiener, Simpson, and Margelef indices indicated that macrozoobenthos were more diverse in Lake Biandantang than in Lake Houhu. Our study suggests that, in shallow lakes, submerged macrophytes are essential for the maintenance of biodiversity of macrozoobenthos mainly because the macrophytes increase habit heterogeneity and availability of suitable food, and may also decrease predation by fish on the macrozoobenthos.