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Article

Changes in Fish Assemblage Structure after Pen Culture Removal in Gehu Lake, China

1
College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
2
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fisheries and Germplasm Resources Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi 214081, China
3
Wuxi Fisheries College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Wuxi 214081, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Fishes 2022, 7(6), 382; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7060382
Submission received: 27 September 2022 / Revised: 24 November 2022 / Accepted: 2 December 2022 / Published: 9 December 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Endangered Aquatic Animals Protection)

Abstract

The removal of the net enclosure has been used as a lake management strategy in various regions of China as ecological development is given more attention. Nevertheless, little is known about the substantive impact of this measure on fish communities in inland lakes. To this end, the fish community composition and structural features after the removal of the net enclosure in Gehu Lake were explored and evaluated in this study from 2021 to 2022 and compared to the investigation before the net enclosure removal from 2017 to 2018. Belonging to 7 orders, 10 families, and 46 species, a total of 17,151 fish were collected, with pelagic, sedentary, and omnivorous species dominating. In comparison, the number of species increased by 10 after removal, and fish alpha diversity increased. The Index of Relative Importance (IRI) revealed that the composition of dominating species remained constant, including Coilia nasus, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, and Hypophthalmichthys nobilis; Parabramis pekinensis, Megalobrama amblycephal, and Culter mongolicus were upgraded from common species to general species. Culter alburnus, Hemiculter bleekeri, and Pseudobrama simoni were downgraded from general species to common species. Elopichthys bambusa had become a common species (IRI = 109.35), which was not discovered before removal. According to the hierarchical clustering (HC) and non-metric multidimensional sequencing (NMDS), the fish community of the northern reserve was highly aggregated. As the Abundance Biomass Comparison (ABC) curve and biodiversity index indicated, the fish community structure of the whole lake was in a state of moderate anthropogenic disturbance with reduced stability, while that of the northern reserve was in a state of light anthropogenic disturbance with greater stability. The number of fish species increased in this survey compared to the period before removal, species and dominant species composition altered dramatically, and total lake stability declined. This study demonstrates that the fish diversity in Gehu Lake increased after the removal of the net enclosure. Meanwhile, the stability of the fish community structure was decreased temporarily. Lake restoration is a long-term process, and the underlying impact of the removal of the net enclosure still requires continuous monitoring and further studies.
Keywords: Gehu Lake; fish assemblage structure; composition; removal of net enclosures; differences Gehu Lake; fish assemblage structure; composition; removal of net enclosures; differences

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Ren, X.; Jiang, S.; Ren, L.; Liang, Y.; Fang, D.; Xu, D. Changes in Fish Assemblage Structure after Pen Culture Removal in Gehu Lake, China. Fishes 2022, 7, 382. https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7060382

AMA Style

Ren X, Jiang S, Ren L, Liang Y, Fang D, Xu D. Changes in Fish Assemblage Structure after Pen Culture Removal in Gehu Lake, China. Fishes. 2022; 7(6):382. https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7060382

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ren, Xiaoliang, Shulun Jiang, Long Ren, Yidong Liang, Di’an Fang, and Dongpo Xu. 2022. "Changes in Fish Assemblage Structure after Pen Culture Removal in Gehu Lake, China" Fishes 7, no. 6: 382. https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7060382

APA Style

Ren, X., Jiang, S., Ren, L., Liang, Y., Fang, D., & Xu, D. (2022). Changes in Fish Assemblage Structure after Pen Culture Removal in Gehu Lake, China. Fishes, 7(6), 382. https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7060382

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