Community structure and coexistence of the rotifers of an artificial crater lake

✍ Scribed by Geert Bogaert; Henri J. Dumont

• Book ID: 104623589
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 593 KB
• Volume: 186-187
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-5141
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00048910

✦ Synopsis

The community structure and dynamics of the rotifers of an abandoned and inundated limestone quarry are described. Zooplankton standing crop is low, but the community is rich in species. Ploesoma hudsoni and Filinia hofmanni are rare or unknown in a perimeter of several hundreds of kilometers around the lake. This illustrates that (passive?) dispersal across large stretches of land even occurs in rare species. Temporal and spatial distribution, together with specific diurnal vertical movements in different seasons facilitate the coexistence of numerous species in the lake. This complex ecology contrasts with the small size of the initial propagules that helped colonise the lake.