Seasonality shapes community structure and functional group dynamics of zooplankton in Changjiang River estuary and its adjacent waters

作者：Zeqi Zheng, Yunyun Zhuang, Hongju Chen, Ruping Ge, Yixuan Li, Guangxing Liu · 发表于：Diversity and Distributions · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1111/ddi.13615 · 被引用次数：14 · 研究领域：Marine and coastal ecosystems、Marine Biology and Ecology Research、Marine and fisheries research

Abstract Aim Functional trait‐based approach links the zooplankton community to the marine ecosystem functioning. It provides a comprehensive insight into the diversity of zooplankton ecological strategies but has rarely been used to characterize the zooplankton community in estuarine ecosystem. Here, we investigated the seasonality of mesozooplankton functional structure with respect to environmental changes in Changjiang River estuary (CRE) and its adjacent waters. Location Changjiang River estuary and its adjacent waters. Methods Samples were collected in three seasons of 2019. Morphologically identified species were assigned functional traits including body length, feeding strategy, trophic group, reproduction mode and habitat type, and clustered into functional groups. Taxonomic and functional diversity indices were calculated. The relative importance of the environmental variables in explaining the seasonality of functional structures was assessed. Results Ten functional groups were identified, and functional structure showed strong seasonal dynamics. Current‐ and mixed‐feeding omnivore–herbivores were the predominant group over seasons. The contribution of carnivorous, detritivorous and omnivorous groups increased from winter–spring to autumn. The seasonality of zooplankton functional structure was mainly explained by the effect of temperature, fluvial discharge and warm current. Low temperature and riverine input of nutrient in winter–spring favoured the small‐sized h...