El Niño-Driven Changes in Zooplankton Community Structure in an Amazonian Tropical Estuarine Ecosystem (Taperaçu, Northern Brazil)

Given the high sensitivity of small estuaries to environmental changes, the present study aimed to investigate how climate-induced stressors—particularly rainfall and salinity—affect zooplankton community structure in the Amazonian Taperaçu estuary (northern Brazil), where limited spatial scale amplifies ecological responses. This study evaluated the effects of the extremely dry 2015–2016 El Niño period on hydrological patterns and zooplankton dynamics in this shallow tropical estuary. Eight sampling campaigns were conducted, with water and zooplankton samples analyzed using standard methods. Salinity, dissolved inorganic nutrients, and chlorophyll-a concentrations were affected by the marked decrease in rainfall caused by the El Niño event. These changes significantly impacted zooplankton community dynamics, especially the densities of marine-estuarine species Acartia lilljeborgii, Euterpina acutifrons, and Oikopleura dioica, which peaked during months of highest salinity. High recruitment of copepod larval stages was also observed, with peak densities coinciding with dominant adult forms. In contrast, coastal and estuarine species such as Acartia tonsa, Pseudodiaptomus marshi, Oithona oswaldocruzi, and Oithona hebes were negatively affected by reduced rainfall. Species richness, diversity, and evenness during the El Niño period were relatively high compared to previously reported values under normal conditions in the same ecosystem. Environmental and temporal variables accounted for over half the variance in predominant taxa density, indicating that El Niño–driven changes influenced zooplankton structure over time. This suggests that El Niño may have strong impacts at the secondary trophic level, likely to cascade throughout the estuarine food web, altering its dynamics and the flow of carbon and energy through the system.