Abstract
Macrophytes sometimes become a nuisance, interfering with navigation, fishing, and aesthetic purposes. Therefore, in many water bodies, the macrophytes are periodically removed. However, with the removal of macrophytes, changes occur in the physico-chemical properties of water and the plankton associated with them. Here we describe the zooplankton community composition using functional traits (feeding guilds and habitat type) from littoral and open water zones in the central Mexican waterbody Benito Juárez Reservoir for one year. In two sites, the macrophyte Egeria densa was removed by the local administration, which resulted in an increase of turbidity, chlorophyll a and phycocyanin levels. Among rotifers, Polyarthra, Trichocerca, Lecane, Lepadella, and Keratella were the dominant genera while for microcrustaceans, copepods, Alona, Ceriodaphnia, Chydorus, and Simocephalus were the dominant genera. Littoral sites had a higher number of microphagous and raptorial species than open water; however, after macrophyte removal, microphagous species were more reduced than raptorial species. Moreover, a decrease in semi-planktonic and benthic-periphytic species, as well as an increase in planktonic organisms was observed after macrophyte removal. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling showed that before the removal of Egeria, macrophyte sites were different from open water; however, after the removal, the zooplankton community was similar in all sites. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that carbonates, nitrates, oxygen, and turbidity were the strongest predictors determining zooplankton composition. Our study showed that macrophyte removal caused habitat modification and zooplankton community shifts that reduce diversity and functional groups.
Published Version
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