Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Macroinvertebrate food web structure in a floodplain lake of the Bolivian Amazon

  • Primary research paper
  • Published:
Hydrobiologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Two stable isotopes δ13C and δ15N were used to identify the energy sources and trophic relationships of the main freshwater macroinvertebrates in a floodplain lake of the Beni River (Bolivian Amazonia). Four energy sources (seston, bottom sediment, periphyton, and aquatic macrophytes) and macroinvertebrate communities were collected during three periods of the river hydrological cycle. Macroinvertebrates showed greater temporal variation in isotope values than their food sources. Six trophic chains were identified: four were based on seston, periphyton, C3 macrophytes, and bottom sediments, and the last two chains on a combination of two carbon sources. One mixed seston and periphyton sources during the wet season while the other mixed periphyton and macrophytes sources during the wet and dry seasons. Periphyton was the most important energy source supporting the highest number of trophic levels and consumers. The macrophytic contribution was only significant during the dry season. Bottom sediments constituted a marginal energy source. As each season is associated with different physical and chemical conditions, processes organizing macroinvertebrate food web structure in the Beni floodplain seem strongly linked to hydrological seasonality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, T. S. & R. W. Sterner, 2000. The effect of dietary nitrogen content on trophic level 15N enrichment. Limnology and Oceanography 45: 601–607.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Adis, J. & R. L. Victoria, 2001. C3 or C4 macrophytes: a specific carbon source for the development of semi-aquatic and terrestrial arthropods in central Amazonian river-floodplains according to δ13C values. Environmental and Health Studies 37: 193–198.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, C. & G. Cabana, 2007. Estimating the trophic position of aquatic consumers in river food webs using stable nitrogen isotope. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 26: 273–285.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Araujo-Lima, C. A. R. M., B. R. Forsberg, R. L. Victoria & R. L. Marinelli, 1986. Energy source for detritivorous fisher in the Amazon. Science 234: 1256–1258.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bachmann, A. O. & S. A. Mazzucconi, 1995. Insects Heteroptera = Hemiptera s. str. In Lopretto, E. C. & G. Tell (eds), Ecosistemas de aguas continentales. Ediciones SUR, La Plata.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ben-David, M. & D. M. Schell, 2001. Mixing models in analyses of diet using multiple stable isotopes: a response. Oecologia 127: 180–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benedicto-Cecilio, E. & C. A. R. M. Araujo-Lima, 2002. Variation in the carbon isotope composition of Semaprochilodus insignis, a detritivorous fish associated with oligotrophic and eutrophic Amazon Rivers. Journal of Fish Biology 60: 1603–1607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benedicto-Cecilio, E., C. A. R. M. Araujo-Lima, B. R. Forsberg, M. M. Bittencourt & L. C. Martinelli, 2000. Carbon sources of Amazonian fisheries. Fisheries Management and Ecology 7: 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benstead, J. P., J. G. March, B. Fry, K. C. Ewel & C. M. Pringle, 2006. Testing isosource: stable isotope analysis of a tropical fishery with diverse organic matter sources. Ecology 87(2): 326–333.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cabana, G. & J. B. Rasmussen, 1996. Comparison of aquatic food chains using nitrogen isotopes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 93: 10844–10847.

  • Carlsson, N. O. L. & C. Brönmarck, 2006. Size-dependence effects of an invasive herbivorous snail (Pomacea canaliculata) on macrophytes and periphyton in Asian wetland. Freshwater Biology 51: 695–704.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, P., 1999. Feeding of Palaemonetes argentinus (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) from an oxbow lake of the Paraná River, Argentina. Journal of Crustacean Biology 193: 485–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, P., V. Williner & F. Giri, 2007. Trophic relationships in crustacean decapods of a river with a floodplain. In Elewa, A. M. T. (ed.), Predation in Organisms. Springer, Heidelberg, Berlin: 59–86.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Conover, W. J., 1999. Practical Nonparametric Statistics, 3rd ed. Wiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Marco, P. J. & A. O. Latini, 1998. Estructura de guildas e riqueza de espécies em uma comunidade de larvas de Anisoptera Odonata. In Nessimian, J. L. & A. L. Carvalho (eds), Ecología de Insectos Aquáticos. Serie Oecologica Brasiliensis, V. PPGE-UFRJ. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 101–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dominguez, E., C. Molinieri, M. L. Pescador, M. D. Hubbard & C. Nieto, 2006. Ephemeroptera of South America. In Adis, J., J. R. Arias, G. Rueda-Delagado & K. M. Wantzen (eds), Aquatic Biodiversity in Latin America ABLA. Pensoft, Sofia-Moscow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Enrich-Prast, A., F. Meirelles-Pereira & F. A. Esteves, 2004. Development of periphytic bacterial associated with detritus of the Amazonian aquatic macrophytes Oryza glumaepatula. Amazoniana XVIII1/2: 81–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finlay, J. C. & C. Kendall, 2007. Stable isotope tracing of temporal and spatial variability in organic matter sources to freshwater ecosystems. In Michener, R. & K. Lajtha (eds), Stable Isotope in Ecology and Environmental Science. Blackwell, Malden: 283–333.

  • Forsberg, B. R., C. A. Araujo-Lima, L. A. Martinelli, R. L. Victoria & J. A. Bonassi, 1993. Autotrophic carbon sources for fish of the Central Amazon. Ecology 743: 643–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • France, R. L., 1995. Differentiation between littoral and pelagic food webs in lakes using stable carbon isotope. Limnology and Oceanography 40: 1310–1313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gannes, L. Z., C. del Martinez Rio & P. Koch, 1998. Natural abundance variations in stable isotope and their potential uses in animal physiological ecology. Comparative Biochemistry Physiology 119: 725–734.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gautier, E., D. Brunstein, P. Vauchel, M. Roulet, O. Fuertes, J. L. Guyot, J. Darozzes & L. Bourrel, 2007. Temporal relations between meander deformation water discharges and sediment fluxes in the floodplain of the Rio Beni Bolivian Amazonia. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 32: 230–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guyot, J. L., J. M. Jouanneau & J. G. Wasson, 1999. Characterization of river bed and suspended sediments in the Rio Madeira drainage basin (Bolivian Amazonia). Journal of South American Earth Science 12: 401–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, S. K., W. M. Lewis & S. J. Sippel, 1992. Energy source for aquatic animal in the Orinoco River floodplain: evidence from stable isotope. Oecologia 89: 324–330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckman, C. W., 1998. The seasonal succession of biotic communities in wetlands of the Tropical wet and dry climate zone: V. Aquatic invertebrate communities in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil. International Review Hydrobiology 83: 31–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herwing, B. R., D. A. Soluk, J. M. Dettmers & D. Wahl, 2004. Trophic structure and energy flow in backwater lakes of two large floodplain rivers assessed using stable isotopes. Canadian Journal Fisheries Aquatic Science 61: 12–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jepsen, D. B. & K. O. Winemiller, 2007. Basin geochemistry and isotopic ratios of fishes and basal production sources in four Neotropical rivers. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 16: 267–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, R. I., L. King, M. M. Dent, S. C. Maberly & C. E. Gibson, 2004. Nitrogen stable isotope ratios in surface sediments, epilithon and macrophytes from upland lakes with differing nutrient status. Freshwater Biology 49: 382–391.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Junk, W. J., 1973. Investigations on the ecology and production-biology of the “Floating Meadows” (Paspalo-Echinochloetum) on the middle Amazon. Amazoniana IV: 9–102.

  • Junk, W. J. & M. T. F. Piedade, 1997. Plant life in the floodplain with special reference to herbaceous plants. In Junk, W. J. (ed.), The Central Amazon floodplain. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg: 148–185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Junk, W. J. & B. A. Robertson, 1997. Aquatic invertebrates. In Junk, W. J. (ed.), The Central Amazon Floodplain. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg: 279–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karasov, W. H. & C. Martínez del Rio, 2007. Physiological Ecology. Princeton University Press, New Jersey: 433–459.

  • Koch, P. L., 2007. Isotopic study of the biology of the modern and foil vertebrates. In Michener, R. & K. Lajtha (eds), Stable Isotope in Ecology and Environmental Science. Blackwell, Malden: 99–154.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Leady, B. S. & J. F. Gottgens, 2001. Mercury accumulation in sediment cores and along food chains in two regions of the Brazilian Pantanal. Wetlands Ecology and Management 9: 349–361.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leite, R. G., C. A. R. M. Araujo-Lima, R. L. Victoria & L. A. Martinelli, 2002. Stable isotope analysis of energy source for larvae of eight fish species from the Amazon floodplain. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 11: 56–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, W. M., S. K. Hamilton, M. A. Rodrígues, J. F. Saunder & M. A. Lasi, 2001. Food analysis of the Orinoco floodplain based on production estimates and stable isotope data. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 20: 241–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magnusson, W. E., M. Carmozina, R. Cintra, A. P. Lima, L. A. Martinelli, T. M. Sanaiotti, H. L. Vasconcelos & R. L. Victoria, 1999. Contributions of C3 and C4 plants to higher to trophic levels in n Amazon savanna. Oecologia 119: 91–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manetta, G. I., E. Benedicto-Ceclilio & M. Martinelli, 2003. Carbon sources and trophic position of the main species of fishes of Baía River, Paraná River floodplain, Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Biology 63: 283–290.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCutchan, J. H., W. M. Lewis Jr., C. Kendall & C. C. McGrath, 2003. Variation in trophic shift for stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur. Oikos 102: 378–390.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Melack, J. M. & B. R. Forsberg, 2001. Biogeochemistry the Amazon floodplain lakes. In McClain, M. E., R. L. Victoria & J. E. Rickey (eds), The Biogeochemistry of the Amazon Basin. Oxford University Press, New York: 235–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minagawa, M. & E. Wada, 1984. Stepwise enrichment of 15N along food chains: further evidence and the relation between 15N and animal age. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 48: 1135–1140.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nolte, U., 1987. Campsurus notatus Polymitarcyidae, Ephemeroptera a bioturbador in várzea lakes. Amazoniana X2: 219–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira, A. C. B., M. G. M. Soares, L. A. Martinelli & M. Z. Moreira, 2006. Carbon sources of fish in an Amazonian floodplain lake. Aquatic Science 68: 229–238.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pereira, M. H. & A. L. Melo, 1998. Influencia do tipo de presa no desenvolvimento a na preferencia alimentar Belostoma anurum Herrich-Schaffer, 1848 e B. plebejum Stal, 1858 Heteroptera, Belostomatidae. In Nessimian, J. L. & A. L. Carvalho (eds), Ecología de Insectos Aquaticos. Serie Oecologica Brasiliensis, V. PPGE-UFRJ. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: 41–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, B. J. & B. Fry, 1987. Stable isotope in ecosystem studies. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 18: 293–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Post, D. M., 2002. Using stale isotopes to estimate trophic positions: models, methods and assumptions. Ecology 83: 703–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rejas, D. 2004. Trophic relations and nutrient recycling in a tropical floodplain lake. PhD thesis. Katholieke Univertiteit Leuven, Leuven.

  • Rice, W. R., 1989. Analyzing tables of statistical tests. Evolution 431: 223–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosing, M. N., M. Ben-David & R. P. Barry, 1998. Analysis of stable isotope data: a K nearest-neighbors randomization test. Journal of Wildlife Management 62: 380–388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roulet, M., M. Lucotte, J. R. D. Guimarães & I. Rheault, 2000. Methylmercury in water, seston, and epiphyton of an Amazonian river and its floodplain, Tapajós River, Brasil. Science of the Total Environment 261: 43–59.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spangler, P. J., 1982. Coleoptera. In Hurlbert, S. H. & A. Villalobos-Figueroa (eds), Aquatic Biota of Mexico, Central America and the West Indies. San Diego State University, California: 82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorp, J. H. & M. D. Delong, 1994. The riverine productivity model: a heuristic view of carbon and organic processing in large river ecosystems. Oikos 70: 208–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorp, J. H., M. Delong, K. S. Greenwood & A. F. Casper, 1998. Isotopic analysis of three food web theories in constricted and floodplain regions of a large river. Oecologia 117: 551–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorp, J. H., M. C. Thoms & M. D. Delong, 2006. The riverine ecosystem synthesis: Biocomplexity in river networks across space and time. River Research and Applications 22: 123–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vander Zanden, M. J. & J. B. Rasmussen, 1999. Primary consumer δ13C and δ15N and the trophic position of aquatic consumers. Ecology 804: 1395–1404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanderklift, M. A. & S. Ponsard, 2003. Sources variation in consumer-diet δ15N enrichment: a meta-analysis. Oecologia 136: 169–182.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wantzen, K. M., F. A. de Machado, M. Voss, H. Boris & W. Junk, 2002. Seasonal isotopic shift in fish of the Pantanal wetland Brasil. Aquatic Science 64: 239–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiggins, G. B., 2004. Caddisflies, the Underwater Architects. University of Toronto Press, Toronto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winemiller, K. O., 2004. Floodplain river food webs: generalization and implications for fisheries management. In Welcomme, R. & T. Petr (ed.), Proceeding of the Second International Symposium on the Management of Large Rivers for Fisheries, Vol. II. Regional Office for Asia and Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand: 285–309.

  • Yoshii, K., 1999. Stable isotope analyses of benthic organisms in Lake Baikal. Hydrobiologia 411: 145–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zah, R., P. Burgherr, S. M. Bernasconi & U. Uehlinger, 2001. Stable isotopes analysis of macroinvertebrates and other food source in a glacier stream. Freshwater Biology 46: 871–882.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Carmen Mendoza and Lucia Alanoca who collected most of the source samples, and to Patrica Miranda and Marianela García who began the work on the decapods. We thank the technical staff of IRD—La Paz: Marcelo Claure, Abdul Castillo and Julio Cesar Salinas as well as our guide and skipper in Rurrenabaque Carlos Manu. Valuable assistance in the Laboratory of Environmental Quality was provided by: Jaime Chincheros and Berenice Carazas. Adriana Sanjinez identified the aquatic plants. We also thank B. Hugueny and D. Achá for comments on the manuscript. Finally we are grateful to Danny Rejas for valuable discussions and suggestions during the analysis. This work received financial support from the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ecología, Unidad de Limnología, UMSA, Casilla Postal #10077, La Paz, Bolivia

    Carlos I. Molina, Julio Pinto & Rubén Marín

  2. Institut de Recherche pour le Développement IRD, Casilla Postal #9214, La Paz, Bolivia

    Carlos I. Molina, François-Marie Gibon & Marc Roulet

  3. CONICET—Instituto de Biología Neotropical (IBN), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Miguel Lillo 205, 4000, Tucumán, Argentina

    Carlos I. Molina & Eduardo Dominguez

  4. UMR BOREA (IRD 207/CNRS 7208/MNHN/UPMC), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 61 rue Buffon, CP 53, #75231, Paris cedex 05, France

    François-Marie Gibon & Thierry Oberdorff

Authors
  1. Carlos I. Molina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. François-Marie Gibon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Thierry Oberdorff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Eduardo Dominguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Julio Pinto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Rubén Marín
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Marc Roulet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carlos I. Molina.

Additional information

Handling editor: J.M. Melack

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Molina, C.I., Gibon, FM., Oberdorff, T. et al. Macroinvertebrate food web structure in a floodplain lake of the Bolivian Amazon. Hydrobiologia 663, 135–153 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0565-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0565-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation