In a reservoir ecosystem, the energy flows from producers to consumers in a food web with a reduction in energy as it moves from lower to higher trophic levels. The food webs present multiple pathways through which the food web structure and interactions play an important role in ecological studies by determining the dynamics of an ecosystem. They illustrate the complex interactions between organisms, including predator-prey relationships and decomposition. The interconnectedness of food webs makes them resilient to disturbances, as energy can flow through alternative pathways. Reservoirs can have unique food web structure compared to other open water aquatic ecosystems. Anthropogenic activities, such as dam construction, pollution, fishing pressure, etc. can alter energy flow and food web dynamics in reservoirs. Hence, understanding the energy flow in reservoir ecosystems is crucial for managing these resources and maintaining their ecological integrity. Various ecological models have been developed for evaluating the food web interactions, and addressing ecological dynamics ranging from the conventional Lotka-Volterra predator–prey model to the more recent ecosystem-based or multispecies fisheries models. These models differ in their complexity, input data requirement and outputs. Ecosystem structure and function can be separated into subsystems that operate at different temporal and spatial scales. The relationships between the ecosystem and population modeling paradigms become apparent when they are related to a hierarchical view of ecosystem structure.
Key words: Multispecies fisheries, Ecological models, trophic dynamics