Does habitat restoration disturb? A case study of a shallow urban water reservoir in western India using cladoceran zooplankton.

Abstract

Anthropogenic stressors, including restoration activities, can have ecosystem wide impacts, reflecting in various biotic components, particularly the basal levels in the trophic webs. Functional traits link taxonomic diversity to ecosystem function, thereby enabling a better ecological assessment of ecosystem health. We studied the effects of restoration activities on the community structure and functional diversity of freshwater cladoceran zooplankton in an urban water reservoir. Samples were taken in the early and late phases of the restoration work. Cladoceran species community and functional composition was significantly different between the two phases. There was a considerable reduction in taxonomic richness, functional richness and redundancy in the late phase. Taxonomic beta diversity between the two phases was explained more by nestedness. Habitat degradation due to haphazard restoration measures such as destruction of littoral zone and arbitrary desilting in addition to the dumping of untreated sewage could have contributed to the decrease in species and functional richness within the reservoir.