Food web structure and trophic dynamics of a fish community in an ephemeral floodplain lake

Peel, Richard A; Hill, Jaclyn M; Taylor, Geraldine C; Weyl, Olaf L F

Title: Food web structure and trophic dynamics of a fish community in an ephemeral floodplain lake
Creator: Peel, Richard A
Creator: Hill, Jaclyn M
Creator: Taylor, Geraldine C
Creator: Weyl, Olaf L F
Subject: To be catalogued
Date Issued: 2019
Date: 2019
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444690
Identifier: vital:74260
Identifier: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2019.00192
Description: In Africa, wetlands, such as shallow, ephemeral lakes provide ecosystem services, such as water purification, food supply, and flood control but are subject to dynamic flooding/drying cycles which vary in duration from years to decades. The stochastic nature of drying events subjects ephemeral lake fauna to persistent disturbance regimes, therefore understanding how biota respond to flooding and drying events is essential for their conservation and management. Primary production sources supporting consumer biomass in the shallow ephemeral Lake Liambezi (upper Zambezi Ecoregion), were investigated using stable isotope analysis, mixing models and stomach content analysis to investigate the following hypotheses: (1) algal primary production supports a higher consumer biomass than aquatic macrophytes; (2) the lake food chain is short, because the majority of fish fauna are detritivorous/herbivorous cichlids that are consumed by top predators; (3) fish community trophic structure will be similar between years; and (4) with short food chains and stochastic resource availability, there will be substantial competition for food among fish species.
Format: 10 pages
Format: pdf
Language: English
Relation: Frontiers in Environmental Science
Relation: Peel, R.A., Hill, J.M., Taylor, G.C. and Weyl, O.L., 2019. Food web structure and trophic dynamics of a fish community in an ephemeral floodplain lake. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 7, p.192
Relation: Frontiers in Environmental Science volume 7 number 1 1 10 2019 2296-665X
Rights: Publisher
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Frontiers Terms and Conditions Statement (https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions)

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Hill, Jaclyn Marie (Ms)

Weyl, Olaf L F (Prof)

RU Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science

SDG 14. Life Below Water

RU South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB)

RU Department of Zoology and Entomology

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