Effects of the Filter-Feeding Benthic Bivalve Corbicula fluminea on Plankton Community and Water Quality in Aquatic Ecosystems: A Mesocosm Study

The influence of filter-feeding bivalves on plankton communities, nutrients, and water quality in a given aquatic ecosystem is so profound that they can be considered ecosystem engineers. In a 70-day mesocosm experiment, we tested the hypothesis that Corbicula fluminea would change plankton communit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water (Basel) 2021-07, Vol.13 (13), p.1827
Main Authors: Rong, Yuqin, Tang, Yali, Ren, Lijuan, Taylor, William D, Razlutskij, Vladimir, Naselli-Flores, Luigi, Liu, Zhengwen, Zhang, Xiufeng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquatic ecosystems
Biomass
Bivalvia
Cellulose acetate
Colonization
Community structure
Corbicula fluminea
Eutrophic environments
Eutrophic lakes
Eutrophication
Experiments
Lakes
Light intensity
Luminous intensity
Mollusks
Nitrogen
Nutrients
Organic phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phytoplankton
Plankton
Sediments
Shellfish
Solid suspensions
Suspended solids
Water purification
Water quality
Zooplankton
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Summary:The influence of filter-feeding bivalves on plankton communities, nutrients, and water quality in a given aquatic ecosystem is so profound that they can be considered ecosystem engineers. In a 70-day mesocosm experiment, we tested the hypothesis that Corbicula fluminea would change plankton community structure by reducing small zooplankton and large phytoplankton and improve water quality by reducing nutrients. We monitored levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, organic suspended solids (OSS), and light at the sediment surface. Within the plankton, phytoplankton biomass (as Chl a, >0.45 μm), the biomass of microphytoplankton (>20 μm), nanophytoplankton (2–20 μm), picophytoplankton (0.2–2 μm), and zooplankton were determined. Compared with the controls, C. fluminea reduced the abundance of rotifers and the biomass of phytoplankton, and picophytoplankton, thereby modifying the plankton community structure. We did not observe reductions in TN and TP concentration, but OSS concentrations were reduced, and light intensity at the sediment surface was increased as a result of the improved water transparency. Our research shows that colonization by C. fluminea may modify plankton community structure and improve water quality of eutrophic shallow lakes, shedding further light on the ecological roles of filter-feeding bivalves in aquatic ecosystems.
ISSN:2073-4441
2073-4441
DOI:10.3390/w13131827