Potential indicator value of subfossil gastropods in assessing the ecological health of the middle and lower reaches of the yangtze river floodplain system (China)

Abstract

The lakes across China’s middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River system have a long history of sustaining human pressures. These aquatic resources have been exploited for fisheries and irrigation over millennia at a magnitude of scales, with the result that many lakes have lost their ecological integrity. The consequences of these changes in the ecosystem health of lakes are not fully understood; therefore, a long-term investigation is urgently needed. Gastropods (aquatic snails) are powerful bio-indicators that link primary producers, herbivores, and detritivores associated with macrophytes and grazers of periphyton and higher-level consumers. They are sensitive to abrupt environmenta..