Spatial variations in food web structures with alternative stable states: evidence from stable isotope analysis in a large eutrophic lake

Yunkai LI; Yuying ZHANG; Jun XU; Shuo ZHANG

doi:10.1007/s00343-017-6225-z

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Spatial variations in food web structures with alternative stable states: evidence from stable isotope analysis in a large eutrophic lake

Updated：2023-05-19

- Spatial variations in food web structures with alternative stable states: evidence from stable isotope analysis in a large eutrophic lake
- Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Vol. 36, Issue 2, Pages: 385-394(2018)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.College of Marine Sciences, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
  2.Marine Sciences Program, School of Environment, Arts and Society, Florida International University, 3000 NE 151 st St., North Miami, Florida 33181, USA
  3.Donghu Experimental Station of Lake Ecosystems, State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology of China, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
- Author bio：
  
  ZHANG Shuo, s-zhang@shou.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s00343-017-6225-z
  CLC：
- Received：31 August 2016，
  
  Accepted：21 October 2016，
  
  Online First：16 December 2016，
  
  Published：2018-03
- Accepted：
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Yunkai LI, Yuying ZHANG, Jun XU, et al. Spatial variations in food web structures with alternative stable states: evidence from stable isotope analysis in a large eutrophic lake[J]. Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 2018, 36(2): 385-394.
DOI：

Yunkai LI, Yuying ZHANG, Jun XU, et al. Spatial variations in food web structures with alternative stable states: evidence from stable isotope analysis in a large eutrophic lake[J]. Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 2018, 36(2): 385-394. DOI： 10.1007/s00343-017-6225-z.

摘要

Abstract

Food web structures are well known to vary widely among ecosystems. Moreover

many food web studies of lakes have generally attempted to characterize the overall food web structure and have largely ignored internal spatial and environmental variations. In this study

we hypothesize that there is a high degree of spatial heterogeneity within an ecosystem and such heterogeneity may lead to strong variations in environmental conditions and resource availability

in turn resulting in different trophic pathways. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes were employed for the whole food web to describe the structure of the food web in different sub-basins within Taihu Lake. This lake is a large eutrophic freshwater lake that has been intensively managed and highly influenced by human activities for more than 50 years. The results show significant isotopic differences between basins with different environmental characteristics. Such differences likely result from isotopic baseline differences combining with a shift in food web structure. Both are related to local spatial heterogeneity in nutrient loading in waters. Such variation should be explicitly considered in future food web studies and ecosystem-based management in this lake ecosystem.

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references

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