Pulsed zooplankton production in seasonally managed wetlands could supplement food availability for a threatened fishery in the San Francisco Estuary

Pulsed zooplankton production in seasonally managed wetlands could supplement food availability for a threatened fishery in the San Francisco Estuary | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Pulsed zooplankton production in seasonally managed wetlands could supplement food availability for a threatened fishery in the San Francisco Estuary Kyle Andrew Phillips, Alice M. Tung, Elsie Platzer, Teejay A. O'Rear, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7294750/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Estuaries and Coasts → Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Seasonal managed wetlands in the San Francisco Estuary are novel habitats that can support aquatic food webs. However, their potential to benefit fish in the estuary is poorly understood. We quantified wetland zooplankton production dynamics to assess whether outflows from wetlands might be used to subsidize fishes. Our study goals were to (1) compare seasonal zooplankton trends between wetlands and adjacent waters, (2) identify differences in zooplankton composition between habitat types, (3) quantify zooplankton trends in managed wetlands with relation to season and hydroperiod, and (4) compare traditional zooplankton sampling with a new rapid-assessment technique. We collected zooplankton via tow-net and rapid-assessment samples, between autumn 2018 and autumn 2022, from six managed wetlands and eight tidal waterbodies across Suisun Marsh, located in the brackish zone of the estuary. Analyses showed that, in all seasons, managed wetlands supported higher zooplankton biomass than tidal habitats, including tidal restoration sites. Managed wetlands favored large-bodied zooplankton, such as Daphnia magna , Acanthocyclops spp., and Eurytemora affinis . Within managed wetlands, peak copepod abundances occurred two months after initial flooding, while peak cladoceran abundances occurred after four months. Rapid zooplankton assessments were highly correlated with tow-net samples, indicating their usefulness in coarsely and quickly characterizing zooplankton abundance, although we recommend they be accompanied with traditional tow-net samples for more detailed analyses. Findings show that managed wetlands support pulsed zooplankton production in response to controlled floods, which could be timed to subsidize plankton stocks for fish. Zooplankton managed wetlands tidal restoration aquatic food webs flood pulse Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Estuaries and Coasts → Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 18 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 07 Aug, 2025 Editor invited by journal 05 Aug, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 04 Aug, 2025 First submitted to journal 04 Aug, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7294750","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":497445117,"identity":"c1329629-e0f0-48d9-a4db-89f5cbfbd20e","order_by":0,"name":"Kyle Andrew Phillips","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA/ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACCSBmZjCwkGFjYGB8AGKDEAMDG0EtEjxANcwGJGhhkOABKZOAqsevRbL97LHHBQUSPHzS7c+qeWqs5Q2Osz9g+FB2GKcWaZ68dOMZIIfJnDG7zXMs3XDDYR4DxhnncGuRY8gxk+YBaZHIYbvN23CYcWYzDwMzbxseLfxvYFrSnxUDtdjPbGZ/wPwXjxZpCbgtCWbMQC2J/cAAZGbEo0Vyxrt0Yx6IX4wl5xxLT+5n5jE42HMuHacWifO5xx7z/LGRk5/d/vDDmxpr2zb+4w8f/CizxqmFgYEHGgUSSGIH8KjHoWUUjIJRMApGATIAAHtDRVraWNYfAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9694-0722","institution":"University of California Davis","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kyle","middleName":"Andrew","lastName":"Phillips","suffix":""},{"id":497445118,"identity":"270141ba-ba0a-481e-814e-1650ed5eebd3","order_by":1,"name":"Alice M. 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