Dominance of Myriophyllum spicatum in submerged macrophyte communities associated with grass carp

Abstract

Re-establishment of macrophyte communities is a key to restore eutrophic shallow lakes. The species composition of the plant communities may change rapidly during the recovery period. A basin in subtropical Lake Qinhu (China) was restored by biomanipulation including fish removal followed by planting of submerged macrophytes in 2011. In September-December 2011, dominance of Vallisneria spinulosa and Ceratophyllum demersum shifted to dominance of Myriophyllum spicatum. Meanwhile, the CPUE (catch per unit effort) showed that the number and biomass of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) demonstrated a marked increase. Stable isotope analyses revealed that grass carp preferred V. spinulosa and C. demersum to M. spicatum. We propose that grazing by grass carp was responsible for the observed shift in dominance towards M. spicatum but as alternative explanations are possible, further tests by controlled experiments are needed to draw firm conclusions.

Keywords

• grass carp
• food preference
• submerged macrophytes
• community structure
• stable isotope