1. Slow recovery in trophic structure of restored wetlands in Northeast China.
- Author
-
Lu K, Chen Z, He X, Wu H, and He F
- Subjects
- China, Animals, Biodiversity, Fishes, Zooplankton, Conservation of Natural Resources methods, Environmental Restoration and Remediation methods, Wetlands, Food Chain, Environmental Monitoring, Invertebrates physiology
- Abstract
Restoration measures have been widely implemented in wetland ecosystems globally to bend the curve of biodiversity loss and restore associated ecological functions. However, assessments of the effectiveness of wetland restoration have predominantly focused on the recovery of taxonomic composition, while few studies have assessed the effectiveness of these efforts from a food web perspective. Here, we incorporated stable isotope approach to investigate trophic structure in natural and restored wetlands in Northeast China. The investigated consumers, including zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, and fish, exhibited lower δ
15 N and higher δ13 C values in restored wetlands than in natural wetlands. Natural wetlands exhibited higher trophic positions and a wider range of trophic levels compared to restored wetlands. Primary consumers in natural wetlands relied more on particulate organic matter (POM, 42.9 % ± 24.1 %), while those in restored wetlands were more dependent on substrate organic matter (SOM, 42.3 % ± 23.9 %). Compared to natural wetlands, isotopic richness was significantly lower in restored wetlands, with smaller isotopic variation (SEAs) in basal resources, aquatic invertebrates, and fish. Our findings reveal that the recovery of trophic structures in restored wetlands lags behind that of taxonomic composition. Future restoration efforts should prioritize enhancing habitat heterogeneity and resource availability to support a diverse range of trophic levels. Monitoring trophic dynamics is essential for assessing the progress of wetland restoration and should be integrated into monitoring schemes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)- Published
- 2024
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