Contrasting responses of fish taxonomic and functional diversity to eutrophication in Danish shallow lakes
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PUBLIC SUMMARY
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We present fish diversity in 96 Danish shallow lakes that varied greatly in nutrient levels and morphometry.
Functional divergence fell with lower macrophyte cover and higher chlorophyll a, but species richness rose.
Functional diversity may better detect habitat degradation in lake ecosystems than taxonomic diversity.
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ABSTRACT
Shallow lakes may shift from a clear state dominated by submerged macrophytes to a turbid state dominated by phytoplankton under increasing nutrient stress. The implications of such an ecosystem state shift for fish taxonomic and functional diversity remain poorly understood. To address this question, we analyzed fish diversity in 96 Danish shallow lakes that varied greatly in nutrient levels and morphometry. We first fit a multiple linear model and used hierarchical variance partitioning to examine the relative importance of multiple environmental variables for changes in fish diversity metrics. Then we used the results to guide the construction of a piecewise structural equation model (pSEM) to quantify the direct and indirect effects of abiotic and biotic variables on fish diversity. Liner regression models demonstrated that the functional divergence of fish communities increased with chlorophyll a and decreased with reduced submerged macrophyte cover, whereas species richness and other diversity measures showed the opposite response. Chlorophyll a explained more variance in the selected fish diversity metrics than any other predictor. Loss of macrophytes due to eutrophication could lead to habitat homogenization and food resource simplification and, in turn, replacement of species belonging to the functionally diverse benthic and lithophilic species guilds by members of the more species rich but functionally redundant pelagic guild. Our study showed that functional divergence may better detect habitat degradation in lake ecosystems than taxonomic diversity, and it highlights the importance of macrophytes for maintaining the ecosystem functions of shallow lakes. -
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REFERENCES
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Mao Z., Cao Y., Quirino B. A., et al. (2026). Contrasting responses of fish taxonomic and functional diversity to eutrophication in Danish shallow lakes. The Innovation Geoscience 4:100237. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2026.100237
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Mao Z., Cao Y., Quirino B. A., et al. (2026). Contrasting responses of fish taxonomic and functional diversity to eutrophication in Danish shallow lakes. The Innovation Geoscience 4:100237. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2026.100237
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Figure 1.
Distribution of (A) species richness (SR), (B) functional divergence (FDiv) and (C) the 96 study lakes included in the analysis across Denmark
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Figure 2.
Relationships between chlorophyll a (Chla) and (A) species richness (SR) and (B) functional divergence (FDiv)
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Figure 3.
Comparison of predictors explaining the variance of (A) species richness and (B) functional divergence in Danish lakes with % independent contribution (%I)
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Figure 4.
Results of piecewise structural equation modelling (pSEM) showing the effects of abiotic and biotic factors on fish species richness (SR) and functional divergence (FDiv) in the studied 96 Danish lakes
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Figure 6.
Responses of (A) fish abundance, (B) species richness of omnivorous and pelagic fish, (C) proportion of piscivorous fish and (D) omnivorous fish relative to chlorophyll a (Chla)
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Figure 5.
Redundancy analysis (RDA) biplots showing associations of fish communities in terms of (A) taxonomic composition and functional groups of (B) feeding behaviour, (C) body size and (D) substrate preference and statistically significant chlorophyll a (Chla) concentrations and environmental variables (arrows)
