The Influence of Human Interference on Zooplankton and Fungal Diversity in Poyang Lake Watershed in China

Abstract

The Poyang water system in Jiangxi Province, China, is important for floodwater storage, diversity maintenance, and the economy of the Poyang Lake watershed. In recent years, pollution has destroyed the ecosystem and impacted human health and the related economy. The water quality of the Poyang Lake watershed and the impact of human interference must be assessed. Conventional analysis and high-throughput sequencing were used to evaluate the structure of both zooplankton and fungi in six sub-lakes of the Poyang Lake watershed under different anthropogenic influences. The sub-lakes included were Dahuchi Lake (in natural preserve, DHC), Shahu Lake (in natural reserve, SH), Nanhu Lake (out of natural preserve, NH), Zhelinhu Lake (artificial reservoir, ZLH), Sixiahu Lake (agricultural lake artificially isolated from Poyang Lake, SXH), and Qianhu Lake (urban lake, QH). The densities and biomass of the zooplankton in DHC, SH, NH were higher compared with those in SXH, ZLH and QH (p < 0.05). Zooplankton distribution of SXH was the most strongly associated with total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and chlorophyll a (Chl a), while QH was highly associated with pH, conductivity (Cond), and water temperature (WT). For fungal diversity, a large number of beneficial fungi, Basidiomycota (phylum level) and Massarina (genus level) were obtained from DHC (55.3% and 27.5%, respectively), SH (54.4% and 28.9%, respectively), and NH (48.6% and 1.4%, respectively), while a large number of pathogenic Chytridiomycota (at phylum level) were identified from SXH (21.0%), ZLH (5.5%), and QH (7.5%). Manmade pollutants have impacted the natural hydrology and water quality and promoted variation between the zooplankton and fungi in the six sub-lakes, reducing the relative abundance of beneficial fungi and increasing the number of pathogens in the environment, which threatens human health and economic production. Understanding the diversity among the zooplankton and fungi in the six sub-lakes of the Poyang Lake watershed may help guide future water management practices.

Seasonal and spatial variability of zooplankton diversity in the Poyang Lake Basin using DNA metabarcoding

“…The results showed that the combined OTU‐table of the same zooplankton species from the Poyang Lake Basin was categorized into 92 species, 45 genera, 26 families, eight orders, four classes, and two phyla using DNA metabarcoding, which was similar to a recent study using traditional biomonitoring methods (Chen et al, 2020 ; Lu et al, 2021 ; Lv, 2019 ). In addition, rotifers constitute the most diverse group within the zooplankton community using traditional biomonitoring methods (Chen et al, 2020 ; Hu et al, 2019 ; Lu et al, 2021 ; Lv, 2019 ; Qin et al, 2020 ), and DNA metabarcoding in this study also revealed rotifers as the most diverse group.…”

“…Spatial changes in the zooplankton in our study were similar to those in studies based on traditional biomonitoring methods (Chen et al, 2020 ; Lu et al, 2021 ; Lv, 2019 ). Some studies have shown that habitat variability of the Poyang Lake Basin could affect the community structure of zooplankton based on traditional biomonitoring methods (Lu et al, 2021 ; Lv, 2019 ; Qin et al, 2020 ). Indeed, the habitat diversity of the lake area is higher than that of the other sampling areas.…”

“…This study also showed that pH negatively affected the community composition of zooplankton. Total phosphorus was strongly correlated with the biomass of algae, resulting in an increase in zooplankton production (Qin et al, 2020 ; Trevisan & Forsberg, 2007 ). Chlorophyll‐a and total phosphorus in spring and summer were the main environmental factors affecting the community composition of zooplankton in this study.…”

Changes and drivers of zooplankton diversity patterns in the middle reach of Yangtze River floodplain lakes, China

“…The species number, abundance, biomass, and α diversity of zooplankton were the highest in summer rather than during the other sampling periods. This may be attributed to the favorable summer temperatures, and phytoplankton was abundant in summer for increasing the number of zooplankton (Liu et al, 2020 ; Qin et al, 2020 ). In addition, the floodplain lake habitats became more complex in different seasons due to the presence of different morphological types of aquatic macrophytes (emergent, floating, rooted with floating leaves and submerged; Liu, 2016 ; Thomaz et al, 2009 ).…”

A Long-Term Analysis of Spatiotemporal Change and Driving Factors on Poyang Lake during 1987-2019

“…The anthropogenic factors for changes in the water body area of Poyang Lake mainly include policy and economic factors [39]. The construction of Three Gorges Dam in 1994 had certain influence on the change of water body area in Poyang Lake.…”