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Nutrients recycled by a small omnivorous fish facilitate the growth and change the stoichiometric contents of submerged macrophytes

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Abstract

When restoring shallow lakes, the recovery of submerged macrophytes is of vital importance to obtain clear water conditions. However, post-restoration recovery of small omnivorous fish can increase water nutrient concentrations through excretion. The impact of these recycled nutrients on submerged macrophytes is not well-studied, and it may depend on fish food of varying nutrient contents. We studied the effects of Acheilognathus macropterus on the growth and nutrient stoichiometry of Vallisneria denseserrulata and Hydrilla verticillata. The experiment had six treatments: two controls without recycled nutrients and two nutrient treatments for each of the plant species, respectively. We found that fish released more phosphorus after consuming low N:P food and more nitrogen after high N:P food. The recycled nutrients significantly promoted the growth of both macrophyte species. Interestingly, macrophytes showed higher growth rates in treatments with nutrients from the low N:P food source. Our study, therefore, suggests that nutrient subsidy from fish excretion can significantly stimulate the growth of submerged macrophytes, the magnitude of the effect being determined by the N:P ratio of the fish food. The realization of this growth potential, however, also depends on the phytoplankton response to these nutrients, that expectedly will be weaker at high macrophyte coverage.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Anne Mette Poulsen for language assistance, and SME María de los Ángeles González Sagrario for valuable comments on the manuscript before sending out for review. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42277067) and Science and Technology Development Plan of Hangzhou West Lake Scenic Area Management Committee (2021-013). EJ was supported by the TÜBITAK program BIDEB2232 (project 118C250).

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China, 42277067, Jinlei Yu,Science and Technology Development Plan of Hangzhou West Lake Scenic Area Management Committe, 2021-013, Sipeng Yao

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 73 East Beijing Road, Nanjing, 210008, Jiangsu Province, China

    Jinlei Yu, Zhigang Mao, Hu He, Xiaolong Huang, Ze Ren & Zhengwen Liu

  2. Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture Economic and Technological Development Zone, Dali, 671014, China

    Lusheng Ma

  3. Division of Hangzhou West Lake Aquatic Area Management, Hangzhou, 310008, China

    Sipeng Yao

  4. Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research (SDC), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Zhengwen Liu & Erik Jeppesen

  5. Department of Ecology and Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China

    Zhengwen Liu

  6. Department of Ecoscience and Center for Water Technology (WATEC), Aarhus University, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark

    Erik Jeppesen

  7. Limnology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences and Centre for Ecosystem Research and Implementation, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, 06800, Turkey

    Erik Jeppesen

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  1. Jinlei Yu
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Correspondence to Zhigang Mao.

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Yu, J., Ma, L., Yao, S. et al. Nutrients recycled by a small omnivorous fish facilitate the growth and change the stoichiometric contents of submerged macrophytes. Hydrobiologia 851, 1983–1992 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-023-05436-8

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