Int Aquat Res (2021) 13:209–217 https://doi.org/10.22034/IAR.2021.1935831.1172 Can shrimp farming wastewater negatively afect water quality and zooplankton community structure of a Neotropical estuary? A case study during a productive cycle of Litopenaeus vannamei Ítala Gabriela S. Santos . Glauber Pereira C. Santos . Carlos Yure B. Oliveira . Clarissa Vilela F. S. Campos . Luis Otávio Brito . Alfredo Olivera Gálvez Received: 17 July 2021 / Accepted: 23 September 2021 / Published online: 29 September 2021 © The Author(s) 2021 Ítala Gabriela S. Santos . Carlos Yure B. Oliveira ( ) . Clarissa Vilela F. S. Campos . Luis Otávio Brito . Alfredo Olivera Gálvez Departamento de Pesca e Aquicultura, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, 52171-900, Brazil e-mail: yureboliveira@gmail.com e-mail: yureboliveira@gmail.com Ítala Gabriela S. Santos . Glauber Pereira C. Santos Instituto de Tecnologia de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil ORIGINAL RESEARCH Abstract Aquaculture wastewater can infuence various communities’ structures in both marine and freshwater environments. This study describes the zooplankton community structure and environmental variables in both Passos River estuary (Northeast Atlantic, Brazil) and commercial shrimp farming ponds associated with this estuary. Samples for water quality analysis and quantifcation and identifcation of zooplankton were taken during a shrimp culture cycle (July to September 2014) from eight sites (two across the main channel, downstream and upstream, and six shrimp farming ponds). The main water quality parameters showed diference between the shrimp farming ponds and the Passos River estuary – higher levels of total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a were observed in the shrimp ponds. The zooplankton structure at diferent environments was dominated by the copepods (53.3 to 83.7%) and rotifers (9.2 to 35.5%) but no signifcant diference was observed among the individual densities. Meanwhile, nutrients availability was a key for high plankton densities in shrimp ponds. These fndings have suggested that wastewater from shrimp farming did not infuence the zooplankton community on a Neotropical estuary on a short-time scale. Keywords Aquaculture impact . Chlorophyll . Environment . Shrimp farming . Trophic level . Wastewater Introduction Aquaculture is one of the world’s fastest growing food production industries and plays a key role towards food security and global nutrition. The aquaculture industry has the largest share in global fsh production and handles around USD 230 billion annually (FAO 2018). Aquaculture can relieve fshing pressure on fsh stocks without compromising seafood availability. On the other hand, although aquaculture is a recent technology for food production, some unsustainable practices are still present, for example: the use of fshmeal and fsh oil in fsh production (Galkanda-Arachchige et al. 2020), biological invasions caused by non-native cultured species (Forneck et al. 2020) and disposal of crude wastewater containing large amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic material from undigested feed and feces (Oliveira et al. 2020). In particular, aquaculture wastewater may drive the eutrophication process in receiving water bodies, and this has negatively impacted several environments, including inland, estuarine and marine environments (Oliveira et al. 2019; Bohnes et al. 2019).