Laboratório de Ecologia de Águas Continentais, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, 88040-900, Brazil.
Environ Monit Assess. 2018 Aug 24;190(9):548. doi: 10.1007/s10661-018-6929-3.
In lakes, the littoral habitat and its invertebrate communities are often exposed to water-level fluctuations. We examined the effects of seasonal changes on water level, substrata availability and benthic fauna in the littoral zone of Peri Lake, a shallow lake that has experienced a strong reduction in water level due to changes in rainfall. In this study, we also examined whether the abundance and composition of aquatic invertebrates differed among the four substrata. Our main objective was to assess the effect of seasonal changes on water level and benthic invertebrates inhabiting the different types of substrata. Benthic invertebrates were sampled four different substrata (Schoenoplectus californicus, sand and stones, allochthonous leaf litter, and macrophyte stands), and we also measured meteorological, physical and chemical variables. We found that complex habitats, such as allochthonous leaf litter and aquatic macrophyte, stand to be colonised by a larger number of macroinvertebrates because they provide more habitats or potential niches for colonisation by different species. In addition, we observed that during periods of low water level, the presence of substrata in the littoral zone decreased, as did the associated biota. Therefore, our results suggest that water level changes have a major functional impact on the littoral zone of the lake, and can affect substratum availability, which also impacts invertebrate communities.
在湖泊中，沿岸生境及其无脊椎动物群落经常受到水位波动的影响。我们研究了季节性变化对水位、底质可用性和沿岸带底栖动物的影响，该湖泊是一个浅水湖，由于降雨量的变化，水位大幅下降。在这项研究中，我们还研究了水生无脊椎动物在四种底质中的丰度和组成是否存在差异。我们的主要目的是评估季节性变化对不同底质类型上栖息的水层和底栖无脊椎动物的影响。我们在四个不同的底质（加州香蒲、沙和石头、异源叶凋落物和水生植物群）中采集底栖无脊椎动物样本，并测量气象、物理和化学变量。我们发现，复杂的栖息地，如异源叶凋落物和水生植物，会被更多的大型无脊椎动物所占据，因为它们为不同物种的定居提供了更多的栖息地或潜在的小生境。此外，我们观察到，在低水位期间，沿岸带的底质减少，与之相关的生物也减少。因此，我们的结果表明，水位变化对湖泊的沿岸带具有重要的功能影响，并会影响底质的可用性，从而影响无脊椎动物群落。
