The Tonle Sap is one of the most productive and biodiverse lakes in the World. A key part of the Mekong flood pulse system, it spreads out across the Cambodian floodplain, tripling in size during the annual monsoon season to provide critical habitats for the aquatic biota. The lake is central to the welfare of Cambodian people, the fish harvests providing critical protein and nutrients, food security and supporting livelihoods. Recent climate patterns, including ENSO cycles have resulted in extreme drought events in the last decade that have threatened to undermine both ecosystem and human resilience. Our study explored ecological characters of the lake hydrology and biodiversity that increase resilience and examined the adaptability of communities that rely on the ecosystem for their survival.
Results/Conclusions
Ecologically our results confirmed key attributes of the biodiversity, such as food web ecology, omnivory and how they interact with the fishery to provide resilience of inland freshwater ecosystems and the importance of the dynamic flood pulse as a driver. Socio-economically we unveiled key characteristics of human behaviours that increase their ability to respond to extreme climate conditions, including access to communications, alternative livelihoods and financial support. We used our results to determine future opportunities to increase ecosystem and community resilience to both climate and development in the Lower Mekong Basin.