Water physicochemistry and benthic macroinvertebrate communities in a tropical reservoir: The role of water level fluctuations and water depth

Water level fluctuations due to reservoir operations often cause spatial and temporal differences in water chemistry, which in turn can have considerable biological effects. Nonetheless, few studies have investigated the effects of fluctuating water levels on water quality and benthic macroinvertebrates in reservoirs in tropical countries, and none in the Philippine archipelago. We investigated the littoral zone of a Philippine reservoir subject to strong water level fluctuations and determined whether (i) water quality and macroinvertebrate community health is reduced when water levels are low, (ii) water quality declines with increasing water depth regardless of the overall water level, and (iii) water quality and community health decrease more strongly with water depth during low water level periods. Our study included five sites and four depths at each site, with three collections each during high and low water levels. Low water levels may have negatively affected four water quality and 10 biological metrics, whereas depth may have negatively affected two water quality and five biological metrics. Significant overall water levels by depth interactions were detected for four common taxa but none for water physicochemistry. Our findings show that tropical reservoirs may experience reduced water quality at low water levels, which can affect their biodiversity and potentially their ecological functioning.