Spatio-temporal variation of zooplankton community structure in tropical urban waterbodies along trophic and urban gradients

Abstract

The ecological impacts of urbanization and eutrophication on zooplankton communities in urban waterbodies have recently gained wide interest. Study findings vary across species and urban waterbodies. How the development of such changes affects the variation of biotic assemblages has only been explored to a limited extent in tropical urban lakes. Spatial and temporal variations of zooplankton community structure in 11 urban waterbodies in the Klang Valley, Malaysia were investigated along trophic and urbanization gradients. Zooplankton and water quality samples were collected three times, between May and November 2017, from two different locations in each lake. All three main zooplankton groups (rotifera, copepoda, and cladocera) were recorded from the study areas throughout the sampling period. The zooplankton community structure, particularly with regard to rotifers and cladocerans, varied between lakes and seasons. Zooplankton diversity does not vary with lake size or distance from the city center but does vary with shoreline development index and urbanization impacts. The zooplankton populations were dominated by rotifers, mainly Brachionus angularis at all study sites during the study period followed by copepods and cladocerans. The total density of zooplankton was significantly highest (p < 0.05) in the hypereutrophic lakes and during the dry season. Zooplankton diversity and rotifer species richness were negatively correlated with total phosphorus (TP). Diversity increased with urbanization and shoreline development, with rotifers as a potential bioindicator of trophic state in urban tropical lakes, due to their close relationship with TP.