Survey-based approach to establish macrobenthic biological network in lakes

Abstract

Macrobenthic species are considered as indicator organisms to characterize water quality. However, few studies focused on the internal interaction between each species. In our research, about 4 seasons and 20 sites of bio-data in 2019 were sampled in Chenghai Lake. Based on correlation analysis, the biological network was established to connect different species for analyzing internal linkages. Additionally, we selected 10 biological indicators to assess habitat quality for each sites. As the results, about 30 kinds of macrobenthic species were collected, which were classified in 7 orders and 13 families. Firstly, the oligochaete and chironomid became dominant throughout the year. Secondly, the richness of gastropoda were relative small. According to the habitat quality assessment, it was concluded that 4 areas had been disturbed possibly by exogenous pollutants. In general, the habitat quality of north was better than the south, the east was better than the west in Chenghai Lake. It was concluded that Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri and Tubifex tubifex showed significantly negative correlation in the network (−0.682, P<0.05), which were dominant species in the 2019 and 2009 respectively. Furthermore, another dominant species Gyraulus convexiusculus assembled some of catarobia was showed significantly positive correlation (0.776, P<0.05). In this study, the existing studies are optimized as (a) Analyzing the current structure of benthos in Chenghai Lake; (b) Establishing the ecological network for each species and determining the core species in benthic web; (c) Assessing habitat quality comprehensively. This research will have application in habitat management and ecosystem restoration by using benthic organisms.