Seasonal and inter-annual community structure characteristics of zooplankton driven by water environment factors during different hydrological years in a sub-lake of Lake Poyang, China

Shallow lakes are important for the maintenance of Lake Poyang ecosystem integrity, and zooplankton play an important role in its substance and energy flow. We investigated zooplankton in spring (April), summer (July), autumn (October) and winter (January of the following year) from 2012 to 2016 in a sub-lake of Lake Poyang with seasonal water level fluctuations. The study aims to understand their seasonal dynamics and interannual variation of zooplankton community in relation to environmental variables. A total of 115 species were identified in all samples of the 4 years, comprising 87 Rotifera, 13 Cladocera and 15 Copepoda. Rotifera was the dominant group in quantity and its species richness and abundance were significantly higher than Cladocera and Copepoda (PPP