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1. Shallow lakes and ponds contribute disproportionally to species richness relative to other aquatic ecosystems. In-lake conditions (e.g. presence of submerged plants) seem to play a key role in determining diversity, as has been demonstrated for temperate lakes. When water quality deteriorates and turbidity increases, conditions in such lakes are affected drastically resulting in a loss of diversity. However, it is not clear whether subtropical lakes show the same pattern and whether the richness of all groups reacts similarly to environmental changes. 2. Our aim was to analyse the main factors explaining patterns of species richness in plankton, fish and submerged macrophyte assemblages in both turbid and clear subtropica