Tack, L.F.J., J.A. Vonk, M.C. van Riel, J.J. van Leeuw, J. Koopman, M.A.M. Maathuis, K. Schilder, R.L. van Hall, J. Huisman & H.G. van der Geest, 2024
Many shallow coastal bays have been closed off from the sea to mitigate the risk of flooding, resulting in coastal reservoir lakes with artificial armoured shorelines. Often these enclosed ecosystems show a persistent decline in biodiversity and ecosystem services, which is likely reflected in their food-web structure. We therefore hypothesize that the food webs of coastal reservoir lakes with armoured shorelines (1) consist of relatively few species with a low food-web connectance and short food chains, and (2) are mainly fuelled by autochthonous organic matter produced in the pelagic zone. To investigate these two hypotheses, we used stable-isotope analysis to determine the food-web structure of lake Markermeer (The Netherlands), a large reservoir lake with armoured shorelines in a former coastal bay area.