Can species guilds act as hubs for energy transfer in macrophyte meadows of Amazonian floodplain lakes?
Open accessAbstract
Aquatic macrophytes are the main autochthonous component of primary production in the Amazon Basin. Floating meadows of these plants support habitats with highly diverse animal communities. Fishes inhabiting these habitats have been assumed to use a broad range of food items and compose a particular food web. We employed carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope analysis to draw the trophic structure of these habitats and to trace the energy flow by its trophic levels. Fishes and other animals from 18 independent macrophyte meadows of a floodplain lake of the Solimões River (Amazonia, Brazil) were analyzed. The food web of macrophyte meadows consists of four trophic levels above autotrophic sources. In general, primary consumers exhibited a broader range of food sources than the upper trophic levels. Some fish species depended on a large number of food sources and at the same time are consumed by several predators. The energy transfer from one trophic level to the next was then mainly accomplished by these species concentrating a high-energy flux and acting as hubs in the food web. The broad range of δ13C values observed indicates that the organisms living in the macrophyte meadows utilize a great diversity of autotrophic sources.
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Floating macrophyte beds (floating meadows) in Amazon floodplains support high fish diversity and serve as nursery habitat for many fishes of high commercial importance.
“Floating macrophyte beds, known as floating meadows, in Amazon floodplains support high fish diversity and serve as nursery habitat for many fishes of high commercial importance.”
From Threshold responses of floating meadow fish communities to floodplain forest cover in the lower Amazon River (2025) · cites this paper as Oliveira et al., 2024
The Introduction (page not available in our copy) says floating meadows support many fish species and provide nursery habitat. The Fauna of macrophyte meadows section (page not available) reports 30 fish species and a marked dominance of young individuals of several large-bodied species. Neither passage establishes that many of those fishes are of high commercial importance. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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Research works printed but not linked: 6
- GAICHAS SK & FRANCIS RC. 2008. Network models for ecosystem-based fishery analysis: a review of concepts and application to the Gulf of Alaska marine food web. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 65: 1965-1982.
- JUNK WJ & HOWARD-WILLIAMS C. 1984. Ecology of aquatic macrophytes in Amazonia. In: Sioli H (Ed) The Amazon. Springer, Series Monographiae Biologicae, Berlin 56: 269-293.
- JUNK WJ & PIEDADE MTF. 1997. Plant life in the floodplain with special reference to herbaceous plants. In: Junk WJ (Ed) The Central Amazon Floodplain: Ecology of a pulsing system. Springer-Verlag Berlin, Berlin, p. 147-186.
- MELACK JM & FORSBERG BR. 2001. Biogeochemistry of Amazon floodplain lakes and associated floodplains. In: McClain ME, Victoria R & Richeyl JE (Eds) The Biogeochemistry of the Amazon Basin. Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 235-276.
- MILLS D & VEVERS G. 1989. The Tetra encyclopedia of freshwater tropical aquarium fishes. Tetra Press, New Jersey, 208 p.
- SIOLI H. 1984. The Amazon and its main affluents: Hydrography, morphology of the river courses, and river types. In: Sioli H (Ed) The Amazon: limnology and landscape ecology of a mighty tropical river and its basin. Springer Verlag, Monographiar Biologicae, Berlin 56: 127-165.
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Grinstead, S., Arantes, C. C., Winemiller, K. O., Kelso‐Winemiller, L. C., de Oliveira, J. A., Petrere, M., & Freitas, C. E. C. (2025) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/cobi.70110
Self-citation
- Authors
- OLIVEIRA, A. C. B., FREITAS, C. E. C., POUILLY, M., YAMAMOTO, K. C., HURD, L. E., DEHART, P., SANTOS, J. A., REZENDE, C. E., ALMEIDA, M. G. D., & SIQUEIRA-SOUZA, F. K.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (US)
- Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Brazil
- State University of Norte Fluminense (BR)
- Universidade Federal do Amazonas (BR)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências
- Publisher
- FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
- Published
- 2024
- Volume
- 96
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e20230327-e20230327
- ISSN
- 0001-3765 (ISSN-L)
- 1678-2690
- OpenAlex
- W4394001615
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2
- FWCI
- 0.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (573601/08-9, 302807/2015-2, 506.750/2013‐2)
- Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos
- Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia Centro de Estudos das Adaptações da Biota Aquática da Amazônia
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Isotope Analysis in Ecology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish biology, ecology, and behavior
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Keywords
- species guilds, food webs, energy transfer, trophic structure, aquatic macrophytes, floodplain lakes, Amazonian fish, trophic levels, stable isotopes, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes, Solimões River, primary production, predator-prey interactions
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Energy Transfer, Fishes, Ecosystem, Food Chain, Lakes, Grassland
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