Seasonal succession and long-term stability of pelagic community in a productive reservoir

Abstract

In Lake Hume, a reservoir located in an active agricultural zone of the Murray River catchment, Australia, time series for the abundances of phytoplankton and zooplankton taxa, monitored from 1991 through to 1996, were stationary (without trends), and plankton taxonomic composition did not change. This indicated ecosystem resilience to strong fluctuations in reservoir water level, and to other potential agricultural impacts, for example eutrophication and pollution. Although biological stressors such as introduced fish and invertebrate predators are known to affect planktonic communities and reduce biodiversity in lakes, high densities of planktivorous stages of alien European perch (Perca fluviatilis) and the presence of carp (Cyprinus carpio) did not translate into non-stationary time series or declining trends for plankton in Lake Hume. However, the seasonal successions observed in the reservoir in different years did not conform well to the Plankton Ecology Group (PEG) model. Significant deviations of the Lake Hume successional pattern from the PEG model included maxima for phytoplankton abundance being in winter and the presence of a clear water phase without large zooplankton grazers. The instability of the water level in Lake Hume probably causes the dynamics of most planktonic populations to be less predictable, but did not initiate the declining trends that have been observed in some other Australian reservoirs. Both the PEG model and the present study suggest that hydrology is one of the major drivers of seasonal succession.