Benthic-pelagic coupling and biomanipulation in shallow lakes (China)

Xiufeng Zhang (Jinan University), Xueying Mei (Anhui Agricultural University), Zhengwen Liu (Jinan University), and their students, Erik Jeppesen (Aarhus, Denmark), Rudstam. (Funded by China NSF)

CBFS has been involved in a series of China NSF funded projects on benthic pelagic coupling and the effects of mussels and fish on shallow lakes. These projects are led by Xiufeng Zhang and Zhengwen Liu (Jinan University, Guangzhou Province) and Xueying Mei (Anhui University, Hefei Province), collaborations that started when Drs Zhang and Mei were on sabbatical leave at CBFS in 2015-17. This research group also involves Belarussian scientist, Erik Jeppesen from Denmark and others. A series of mesocosm experiments on P recycling with various food web configurations have shown a strong effect of fish on shallow ecosystems, but also of bivalve and gastropods. In 2025, one paper was published on the effects of filterfeeding bivalve location (Jin et al. 2025), on bivalve effects on zooplankton (Xie et al. 2025) and on the effect of a large bivalve on phytoplankton (Zhu et al. 2025). Drs Zhang, Mei, and their students presented at a number of local and national meetings in China on these topics in 2025. These works inform lake management in China, which increasingly uses various biomanipulation approaches like bivalve additions, fish removal, and macrophyte plantings to improve water quality.