Changes in Pelagic Fish Community Composition, Abundance, and Biomass along a Productivity Gradient in Subtropical Lakes

How fish communities change with eutrophication in temperate lakes is well documented, while only a few studies are available from subtropical lakes. We investigate the community structure 36 located Yangtze River basin, covering wide nutrient gradient. found that species richness and total catch per unit effort (CPUE) increased significantly chlorophyll (Chla). Among different feeding types, proportion of zooplanktivores Chla, percentage omnibenthivores showed no obvious changes; CPUE piscivorous Culter spp. their decreased pronouncedly. Based on index relative importance (IRI), most important dominant was zooplanktivorous Sijiao (Toxabramis swinhonis), followed by omniplanktivorous sharpbelly (Hemiculter leucisculus) omnibenthivorous crucian carp (Carassius carassius), small-sized belonging to Cyprinidae family. The these three Chla. focus has, so far, been directed at large fish, but as emphasized our results, abundant small were study even terms biomass, and, accordingly, we recommend more attention be paid population dynamics future.