Ecological usage of macrophytes by fishes and crustaceans: A systematic map

To organise state-of-the-art evidence on the ecological uses of macrophytes as food resources, spawning sites, and habitat for fish and crustaceans, we systematically reviewed research on this topic. In October 2017, we searched refereed papers available in the Web of Science Core Collection and J-STAGE. A total of 512 papers were selected via a review process. Most of the selected studies were conducted in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Oceania, while fewer were conducted in Asia and Africa. Lakes and rivers were the most commonly studied water bodies, with fewer marine studies. Submerged plants were the most commonly studied macrophytes, followed by emerged plants, free floating plants, and floating-leaved plants. Fish accounted for half of the studied organisms. The use of macrophytes as habitat was the focus of more than 80 percent of the studies, with fewer focusing on macrophytes used as spawning sites. An insufficient number of studies focused on macrophyte use in spawning, and more studies are needed from Asia and Africa. As a novel trial, we classified ten ecological research methods into three evidence levels to identify whether causal inference was possible. As a result, we successfully extracted papers which presented strong evidence that aquatic plants are ecologically useful for fish and crustaceans.