title: Drifting plankton from a reservoir subsidize downstream food webs and alter community structure.
abstract: Subsidy between ecosystems has been considered in many natural ecosystems, and should alter food webs and communities in human-impacted ones. We estimated how drifting plankton from a reservoir contribute to downstream food webs and showed that they alter community structures over a 10-km reach below the dam. To estimate the contribution of the drifting plankton to macroinvertebrates, we used C and N isotopes and an IsoSource mixing model. In spring and autumn, contributions of plankton to collector-filterer species were highest 0.2 km downstream of the dam, and clearly decreased from 0.2 to 10 km. At 0.2 km, the contribution of plankton to a predator stonefly was remarkably high. These results indicated that drifting plankton from a dam reservoir could subsidize downstream food webs and alter their energy base, but the importance of this subsidy decreased as distance from the reservoir increased. The general linear models indicated that the abundance of collector-filterers and predators was related positively to zooplankton density in stream water. Thus, food source alteration by drifting plankton also influenced the community structures downstream of the dam.
authors.affiliation: LAFWEDY, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, 3-5-7, Tarumi, Matsuyama 790-8566, Japan. h-doi@agr.ehime-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Doi
authors.forename: Kwang-Hyeon
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Takamitsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Shin-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kajimoto
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Katano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D017753:Ecosystem; D020387:Food Chain; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D007564:Japan; D008954:Models, Biological; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D010933:Plankton / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D011156:Population Density; D045483:Rivers; D012621:Seasons
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes